National Pension Service

The National Pension Service (NPS; Korean: 국민연금공단; Hanja: 國民年金公團; RR: Gukminyeongeumgongdan) is a public pension fund in South Korea. It is the third largest in the world with over $800 billion in assets, and is the largest investor in South Korea.

The system functions as part of a national social security framework, receiving insurance premiums from subscribers, employers, and the state, and providing old-age pensions, survivors' pensions, and disability pensions—thereby contributing to the stability of the state. It is designed to support individuals who have become non-economically active due to old age.

Countries like Japan, Norway, Singapore, and the Netherlands also operate similar centralized systems. A notable difference is that, unlike sovereign wealth funds, only a few countries—including Korea and Japan—invest national pensions into stock markets. Given the fund's size (over ₩500 trillion), it often appears in financial news as a kind of “relief pitcher” during market volatility.

It is looking to buy a portfolio of blue-chip stocks from emerging markets.

On January 30, 2017, NPS opened up an office in New York City's One Vanderbilt.

Since 2022, Tae-Hyun Kim is the CEO of the fund.

In May 2024, NPS announced its intention to aim for a 65% ratio of risky assets. As of 2024, out of ₩1,101 trillion the fund had invested ₩597 trillion in assets outside Korea and ₩504 trillion domestically.

In June 2024, NPS and the Korean Central Bank agreed to expand their currency swap line from $35 billion to $50 billion. In December 2024, the swap line was expanded to $65 billion.

The NPS is currently in annual surplus, recent surpluses have been between 1% and 5% of GDP.