A partner for clients’ financial freedom: K-Freedom Asset Management

K-Freedom Asset Management was co-founded by a team of Meritz Asset Management alumni. Valuing trust and sustainability over rapid growth, the firm stays focused on the fundamentals of asset management rather than chasing trends, as a partner for its clients’ financial freedom. We spoke with Jeongim Park, a finance professional with a career at Korean and international institutions, a mother and a wife, and now CEO, CIO and largest shareholder of the three-year-old firm.

Ms. Park first encountered trading systems when she moved from a foreign securities firm into a portfolio management role at a Korean asset manager. Things may have improved since, but at the time the first order in a new overseas stock required entering the price by hand, and with weak cross-checking in the system she had the unnerving experience of an order going through at a mistyped price. She gave feedback to improve the situation, but it was hard to expect the flexibility or speed she wanted, so when she founded K-Freedom she began looking for a different system. “I started asking whether the client was really at the center of every decision, and so when I founded the company I looked for a different system.”

The connection with Fincatch began when a co-founder happened to read an interview with Fincatch CEO Soohyun Lim. A new fintech solution built by a startup, and one founded by a woman, stood out as a sign of diversity in the financial industry. When we asked what ultimately convinced K-Freedom to adopt Fincatch, she answered as follows. 1. Intuitive interface: a straightforward structure that makes needed features easy to find and use 2. Sensible pricing: an affordable plan for a company just starting out 3. Customer service: the expectation of agile problem-solving and attentive care from a fellow startup “Weighing the pros and cons at the time, the pros carried more weight, so we decided to adopt it.”

The strength Ms. Park and her team single out is intuitiveness. In a trading system where features can easily pile up and grow complex, being able to use the essential functions intuitively was a major advantage. Fast feedback and user-centered service, rarely seen in older systems, along with the pre-compliance feature, were important reasons to trust the platform. “Compared with other vendors, what matters is that the features we need are easy and intuitive to use. When placing an order is complicated it gives you a headache, and this was exactly what we needed.”

In asset management, surviving the hard early days lets assets accumulate and sustainability follow, yet many Korean asset managers now operate briefly and disappear. In that market, K-Freedom is growing slowly and in balance rather than chasing short-term results or fads, with the goal of becoming an example of an asset manager that grows over the long term so its clients can achieve financial freedom. “I think Korea needs more asset managers. Managers need to restructure with a long-term view, and we’re working hard to set that example.” Ms. Park also stresses that a system’s greatest value is keeping its users from wasting time, and she judged that Fincatch could play that role with an intuitive, easy system that reduces human error and a compliance feature that screens out risk in advance.

Ms. Park says organizational trust comes from each person focusing on their own work and seeing it through, and from communicating and resolving problems immediately rather than hiding them. To keep clients’ interests first, the firm is structured so that every employee is both a shareholder and a client, and that philosophy carries into K-Freedom’s culture. “Get Things Done. If everyone does their best and completes their own work perfectly, there’s no reason for anyone to get upset.” Because asset management is a business of trust rather than a tangible product, she emphasizes that building trust with clients matters as much as trust within the organization. Consistently writing candid insight pieces that carry her views and philosophy, and meeting clients in person across the country, are her main ways of building long-term trust through sincere, consistent communication. On that foundation, K-Freedom’s firm-wide AUM grew about 120% in the six months to the end of June 2025, with balanced growth across funds, corporate clients and pensions.

As a career-experience institution certified by the Ministry of Education, K-Freedom provides financial education to children and teenagers, helping the next generation approach finance more easily and with an open mind. Beyond managing assets, the firm consistently shares market insights and keeps up sincere communication with clients, setting a good example of sustainable growth for an asset manager. Ms. Park hopes more women founders will start and establish asset managers, because she believes diversity is essential to the healthy growth of the industry. Fincatch will continue to grow alongside Jeongim Park and K-Freedom Asset Management as a dependable partner on their path toward clients’ financial freedom and a healthier asset management industry.