Open to university students and graduates from 2017 onward

Purse of 20 million won; recruitment-track internship on offer

Timefolio Asset Management co-CEOs Hwang Sung-hwan and Cha Moon-hyun (fifth from left in the back row) cheer alongside fifth-cohort participants and staff at an RFM internship completion ceremony. [Timefolio Asset Management]
Timefolio Asset Management co-CEOs Hwang Sung-hwan and Cha Moon-hyun (fifth from left in the back row) cheer alongside fifth-cohort participants and staff at an RFM internship completion ceremony. [Timefolio Asset Management]

Timefolio Asset Management is hosting a mock investment competition for university students and recent graduates who aspire to become fund managers.

The company announced Tuesday it will hold the Road to Fund Manager (RFM) mock investment competition. The fourth-quarter contest runs from Thursday through Nov. 30, with applications accepted through Thursday.

The competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as recent graduates, who wish to enter the capital markets industry. Graduates who completed their undergraduate degrees in 2017 or later are eligible.

Participants manage 1 billion won ($744,000) in virtual assets and carry out simulated trades using real market data. Rankings are not determined by returns alone — participants are also assessed on compliance with operating guidelines, portfolio diversification and volatility management, including a rule capping any single stock at no more than 15 percent of the portfolio.

The top five performers by return will share a total purse of 20 million won. Participants who receive an A+ rating based on overall portfolio management ability — not just returns — will be offered a recruitment-track internship lasting 12 weeks.

Timefolio Asset Management provides interns with hands-on training designed to develop them into licensed fund managers, covering portfolio construction and the use of investment management systems, as well as seminars with securities analysts. The internship program, launched in 2024, has seen more than 30 participants complete it across five cohorts. It is regarded as a program that offers real-world experience at a firm that has rapidly expanded its ETF business — its active ETF net assets recently surpassed 10 trillion won — and is growing its standing in the asset management industry.

Timefolio Asset Management has run the RFM competition directly since 2023, holding it once per quarter for a total of four times a year. Around 2,000 people take part in each contest, and some past participants have gone on to secure jobs at asset management firms and securities companies after completing the competition and internship.

Applications can be submitted through the Road to Fund Manager (RFM) competition website operated by Timefolio Asset Management.


kacew@heraldcorp.com