HF Attracts Its First Foreign Investment in Its MBS Issuance

- Singapore’s UOB invests KRW 300 billion in MBS issuance in Korea 

One of Singapore’s largest banking institutions, UOB* invests KRW 300 billion in MBS issued in Korea. 

 * United Overseas Bank Limited Co.: The second-largest investment bank in Singapore

Korea Housing Finance Corporation (HF, CEO Lee Jung-Hwan) announced on March 13, 2020, that foreign bank UOB made two investments in HF’s Korean won-denominated MBS issuance this year, which marks the first foreign MBS investment that HF has attracted since its establishment in 2004. 

HF fully cooperated with UOB’s requests for documents and on-site due diligence and met its strict expectations for ▲ the soundness of the underlying assets and ▲ the stability of the MBS structure, winning two separate investments in MBS with a maturity of three years on February 21 and March 13, 2020. These two investments total KRW 300 billion.  

An HF official said, “Our success in attracting the investments from UOB shows the international financial markets that HF MBS is as stable and competitive as government bonds and monetary stabilization bonds. We will continue our efforts to broaden our investment horizons through overseas covered bond issuance and foreign investment attraction efforts.”

As the supply of Relief Conversion Loans, Bogeumjari Loans, and other state-sponsored mortgage loans increases, HF plans to issue KRW 45 trillion of MBS this year.