ZURICH, March 31, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SAM, the sustainability investing specialist, Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, and the Korea Productivity Center (KPC), the agency tasked to increase productivity within Korean industry, today announced their plans to launch a dedicated sustainability index for Korea.
The Dow Jones Sustainability Korea Index is scheduled to go live in the fourth quarter 2009 and will be designed to track the sustainability leaders among Korea's largest 200 companies by free-float market capitalization. The announcement follows the recent establishment of Korea's presidential commission for green growth and the approval of a new "Low Carbon and Green Growth Bill" by Korea's cabinet at the end of February.
Like all Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, components for this benchmark will be selected based on SAM's comprehensive analysis of economic, environmental and social performance. Covering a variety of issues such as corporate governance, risk management, branding, climate change mitigation, supply chain standards and human capital, the analysis reflects the growing importance investors attribute to sustainability criteria around the globe. Invitations for participation in SAM's annual sustainability assessment will be sent to the companies in early April. Dow Jones Indexes will calculate and disseminate the new benchmark while KPC will promote the index among Korean corporations and investors.
The announcement of the new index coincides with a growing recognition among asset owners, regulators and policymakers worldwide that financial markets need to shift focus from short-termism to long-term thinking.
"KPC has played a pivotal role in the development of Korea's economy during the last decades. We are convinced that sustainability has to become an integral part of this development moving forward and that financial markets are an essential player in that context. Providing markets with a solid and thoroughly researched benchmark is an essential step towards this objective. SAM and Dow Jones Indexes are the best possible partners for us to move ahead on this track," said Chun-Seon Lee, managing director, Korea Productivity Center.
"In spite of the current crisis, Asia Pacific will remain home to some of the most vibrant and rapidly developing financial markets worldwide. Korea is a case in point for this. The new
Dow Jones Sustainability Korea Index will allow market participants to reflect the sustainability dimension within this momentum by offering a transparent and reliable benchmark of the country's sustainability leaders," said John A. Prestbo, editor and executive director, Dow Jones Indexes.
"The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes provide reference points for investors and corporations alike. A growing number of asset owners is using the DJSI family for their investments and more and more companies define index inclusion as a corporate goal. As a result, the indexes offer companies an incentive to strive for constant sustainability improvements. We are delighted that KPC has chosen the DJSI family to leverage this dynamic on a national basis in Korea and thus to support the sustainability momentum within this important market," said Alexander Barkawi, managing director, SAM Indexes.
About SAM
SAM was established in Zurich in 1995 as the first investment group focused exclusively on the integration of economic, environmental and social criteria into investing. The company's services comprise asset management and indexing. In 1999, SAM teamed up with Dow Jones Indexes to launch the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) -- the first benchmarks tracking the performance of sustainability leaders on a global scale. Two years later, European index provider STOXX Limited joined this cooperation to expand the DJSI family with European and Eurozone sustainability benchmarks -- the DJSI STOXX and DJSI EURO STOXX. Today, the DJSI family comprises global, European, Eurozone, North American, US as well as Asia Pacific sustainability benchmarks. Total assets managed against the DJSI family amount to over US$6bn. Full details about the design philosophy, review methodology and index components are freely available at www.sam-group.com and www.sustainability-indexes.com.
About Dow Jones Indexes
A full-service index provider, Dow Jones Indexes develops, maintains and licenses indexes for use as benchmarks and as the basis of investment products. Best known for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Dow Jones Indexes also is co-owner of the Dow Jones STOXX indexes, the world's leading pan-European indexes, and together with Wilshire Associates, provides the Dow Jones Wilshire Global Index family, which is anchored by the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 and covers more than 12,000 securities in 65 markets. Beyond equity indexes, Dow Jones Indexes maintains a number of alternative indexes, including measures of the hedge fund and commodity markets. Dow Jones indexes are maintained according to clear, unbiased and systematic methodologies that are fully integrated within index families. www.djindexes.com. Dow Jones & Company (www.dowjones.com) is a News Corporation company (Nasdaq:NWS) (Nasdaq:NWSA) (ASX:NWS) (ASX:NWSLV) (www.newscorp.com). Dow Jones is a leading provider of global business news and information services. Its Consumer Media Group publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Its Enterprise Media Group includes Dow Jones Newswires, Dow Jones Factiva, Dow Jones Client Solutions, Dow Jones Indexes and Dow Jones Financial Information Services. Its Local Media Group operates community-based information franchises. Dow Jones owns 50% of SmartMoney and 33% of STOXX Ltd. and provides news content to radio stations in the U.S.
The Dow Jones & Company logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=4578
About Korea Productivity Center
Established in 1957, the Korea Productivity Center (KPC) has been designated by the Korean government to support productivity improvements across the country's economy. Over the last five decades KPC has played a pivotal role in increasing productivity in Korea and thus growing the national economy. The organization's services comprise consulting, education and training, as well as support for the implementation of quality and environmental management systems. KPC has also developed and continues to publish Korea's National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI) as well as the country's National Brand Competitiveness Index (NBCI). Further information is available at www.kpc.or.kr.