UBS says South Korean assets under management may reach 100 bln usd by 2012

ZURICH (Thomson Financial) - UBS AG sees significant growth potential in South Korea and assets under management could rise to 100 bln usd over the next five years, head of UBS Global Asset Management in Asia Christof Kutscher said.

'The penetration of mutual funds in this country is very low. This will increase substantially, and investor education will pick up, so we're very confident that the total size of this market will grow significantly faster than those in continental Europe, or in the US, or in the UK,' Kutscher said. 'I think if you have five years' time, 100 bln usd should be a target for us,' he said adding that the exact figure is subject to total market growth, economic conditions. [e-mail] jmt/slm COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.