[Exclusive] National Pension to Delegate Voting Rights to the Private Sector [Signal] (2026.02.19.)

(Some of the matters demanded at the Pension Future Forum's 12th seminar, held on February 9, 2026, appear to be getting realized, as the government seems to be shifting its policy direction!

The Pension Future Forum hereby declares its strong support for this shift in the government's stance!

In contrast, "the Public Pension Strengthening People's Action" has taken a strongly opposing stance!)

 

The National Pension Service is changing the way it entrusts funds to domestic equity asset managers so that private managers can exercise the voting rights at general shareholders' meetings.

Since capital is currently invested through a discretionary mandate structure, under which all voting rights are exercised in the National Pension's name,

switching to a fund-investment structure is expected to ease the "pension socialism" controversy as well.

According to investment banking (IB) industry sources on the 19th, the National Pension Service's Stewardship Committee is reportedly set to discuss a plan to convert the way it invests its capital into a fund format on the 24th of this month.

It is known that this meeting of the Stewardship Committee will review the full range of necessary matters, including regulatory amendments.

At the earliest, a plan to apply this in stages starting from next year's regular shareholders' meetings is being seriously considered.

According to the National Pension Service, a resolution by the Fund Management Committee is required in order to allow private managers to exercise voting rights under the discretionary mandate structure.

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If the National Pension Service delegates voting rights to entrusted asset managers, this is assessed to carry great significance in that it would put an end to the "pension socialism" controversy that has repeatedly arisen at every major juncture involving the exercise of shareholder rights.

In particular, having private managers exercise voting rights is expected to further strengthen the independence of the National Pension Service.

In the market, criticism has been raised that, given the fact that the Minister of Health and Welfare chairs the National Pension Fund Management Committee, it is difficult to say the National Pension Service has achieved complete independence.

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As a result, the National Pension Service's adoption of the stewardship code gained momentum in earnest, and as cases of the National Pension Service participating in corporate management increased, criticism of "pension socialism" continued to be raised.

The core criticism was that the National Pension Service had been exercising shareholder rights to suit the preferences of whichever administration was in power, thereby infringing on management rights, and it was also pointed out that this represented excessive state interference in corporate ownership that undermines the principles of a free-market economy.

In particular, the National Pension Service came under repeated attack over its independence after it formally blocked the appointment of specific individuals during the chairman-selection processes at the POSCO Group and KT, acting as a mouthpiece for the government's position.

Each time, the alternative that was raised was a method of delegating shareholder rights to the private sector.

The idea is to raise independence and maximize efficiency by entrusting voting rights to the private sector rather than having the National Pension Service exercise them directly.

In fact, Japan, whose public pension fund is counted among the world's three largest, also applies this same method.

Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the world's largest public pension fund, entrusts management to the private sector instead of managing assets directly.

This is meant to block government intervention and secure independence by fully delegating equity voting rights to entrusted asset managers.

https://n.news.naver.com/article/011/0004591428?sid=101