The National Pension Service (NPS) has been found to have belatedly removed a "hidden sheet" containing the real names of undisclosed investment targets, estimated at up to 65 trillion won, and re-uploaded the disclosure file. It was revealed that internal information presumed to include the real names, investment balances, and audit instructions of non-public funds had been concealed only via hidden sheets without encryption in an Excel file attached to the disclosure document. Upon this revelation, the NPS amended its disclosure by replacing it with a file from which the hidden sheets had been removed. This incident suggests that basic information management at Korea's representative public pension fund, which deals with domestic and international asset managers, was flawed, raising concerns that the NPS's credibility in the capital market may decline.
According to the National Pension Service on the 22nd, the NPS replaced the file after this outlet reported that undisclosed data remained on hidden sheets in its infrastructure and real estate investment status disclosure file. The disclosures containing hidden sheets covered infrastructure investments for the periods ending at the end of 2023 through the end of 2025, and real estate investments for the periods ending at the end of 2023 and the end of 2024, with a total of 25 hidden sheets.
On the hidden sheets of the infrastructure investment disclosure Excel file, investment targets worth 53 trillion 955.1 billion won were listed as non-public items, yet they could be viewed simply by using the unhide function. In the real estate investment disclosures, investment targets worth 11 trillion 133.4 billion won were similarly exposed. Combined, this means that the names and presumed investment balances of funds and projects totaling 65 trillion 88.5 billion won were exposed.
Some in the capital market reacted by saying the incident directly contradicts the NPS's recent moves to strengthen its non-public stance under the guise of strategic ambiguity. The Ministry of Health and Welfare decided not to disclose for four years, as required by law, the minutes of the Fund Management Committee meeting that determined to raise the target allocation for domestic stocks, and also turned the formula for the strategic currency hedge limit into a non-public item. This year, as volatility in the domestic stock market has increased, the level of information disclosure by the NPS has become controversial.
It is also known that the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Pension Service explained to the National Assembly that detailed information disclosure was difficult, citing non-public contractual terms with asset managers, even when geopolitical controversy arose over the NPS's investment in the Hong Kong stock market IPO (initial public offering) of Zhongji Innolight, which is on the CMC (Chinese Military Companies) list—a list prohibiting participation in procurement projects by the U.S. Department of War. An industry source in the IB (investment banking) sector said, "It may legally conflict with contract terms for the NPS to include non-public information agreed upon with asset managers in its disclosure documents."
There are also views that trust in the level of information management by domestic public institutional investors could decline amid rising interest from overseas institutional investors in the Korean market. The hidden sheets of the NPS largely included the names of funds affiliated with global asset management firms such as Blackstone, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs, which have opened or plan to open offices in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. In Jeonju, where the National Pension Service is located, efforts are underway to establish a specialized financial hub for asset management (the third financial hub), a campaign promise of President Lee Jae-myung.
Calls have also emerged for an internal control system review and apology at the institutional investor level. An industry source in the asset management sector, referring to various non-public strategies of the NPS, said, "If the NPS's investment information is not actually a major issue, it might be appropriate to disclose it going forward," while adding, "However, if what was exposed constitutes important information, an official apology should be made at the institutional investor level."
Professor Im Chae-woon, a distinguished professor in the Department of Business Administration at Sogang University, said, "There is no need to disclose every detail as it could distort the market," while adding, "However, if operations become opaque, moral hazard issues may arise, so internal controls and supervisory management are necessary." Regarding the exposure of the hidden sheets, Professor Im stated, "It seems they did not conduct an internal review," and added, "The internal control system appears to be inadequate."
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