Shinhan Asset Management unveils second-half TDF asset allocation strategy for 2026

Shinhan Asset Management released an online seminar reviewing global asset market trends in the first half of this year and laying out its pension investment strategy for the second half. The firm expects structural growth driven by AI and semiconductors to continue, while flagging the need for asset allocation strategies that account for rising interest rate and exchange rate volatility.

The firm said Friday it published the seminar — covering a first-half review of global asset markets and its second-half target-date fund (TDF) asset allocation strategy — through its official YouTube channel.

The seminar was designed to assess the global financial market environment heading into the second half and help pension investors set the direction for their asset management. Kim Eui-chan, head of the multi-asset management team who oversees Shinhan TDF operations, participated alongside portfolio managers covering developed-market and emerging-market shares and global bonds, sharing market outlooks and investment strategies.

Shinhan Asset Management identified the spread of the AI investment cycle as the key driver of global asset markets in the first half of this year. The AI investment boom centered on the "Magnificent 7" big-tech companies expanded into memory chips and power infrastructure, lifting global equity markets, while South Korea's stock market also posted gains led by large-cap semiconductor shares.

The second-half asset allocation strategy covers three areas: shares, bonds and exchange rates. On the share side, the firm maintained its stance of overweighting AI and semiconductor sectors and the domestic equity market, citing expectations that structural earnings improvement in those industries will continue. However, given heightened market volatility, it recommended holding existing positions and responding to market shifts rather than aggressively adding exposure.

On bonds, the firm said it will maintain a strategy of reducing its weighting and duration in Korean bonds given the possibility of interest rate hikes, while gradually seeking opportunities to increase its allocation to US bonds as it monitors the rate outlook.

The Shinhan Maeum Pyeonhan Jeokgyeok TDF will flexibly adjust its currency-hedging ratio depending on market conditions, while the Shinhan Ppareun Daeeung Jeokgyeok TDF will be managed in line with the characteristics of its hedged and unhedged products.

Shinhan Asset Management has managed the Shinhan Maeum Pyeonhan Jeokgyeok TDF since 2017. Last year it launched the Shinhan Ppareun Daeeung Jeokgyeok TDF, strengthening its TDF lineup to match investors' retirement timelines and risk profiles.

"This seminar was planned to look back on first-half asset market trends and take a balanced look at the investment environment for the second half," Kim said. "Since pension assets are managed with a long-term perspective, regularly reviewing asset allocation strategies as market conditions change is essential."

He added that structural growth opportunities centered on AI and semiconductors are expected to continue in the second half, but that more precise, asset-by-asset responses are needed given elevated interest rate and exchange rate volatility. "Shinhan TDF will do its best to support stable pension asset management for investors by responding flexibly to market changes based on global asset allocation," he said.