Paul Kim, Co-Founder and CEO, Simplify Asset Management

From a young age and learning from his humble and hardworking parents who immigrated from South Korea, Paul Kim developed an appreciation for the value of capitalism and the pursuit of the American dream. Finding his way into the investment industry first in an investment banking seat at Lazard where he learned by fire, Paul would ultimately spend time at PIMCO and then at Principal Global Investors where he launched and built the firm’s ETF business. More recently, Paul co-founded Simplify Asset Management, a firm committed to delivering innovative products in the exchange traded landscape. Our conversation is focused on how derivatives can be used within an ETF to augment the purely linear exposures provided by traditional instruments like the SPY. By overlaying a put option, for instance, an investor can protect against extreme downside risk in equities like that which materialized in March of 2020. We discuss as well important and exciting new developments in the ETF industry, one of which allows for the utilization of OTC derivatives. In this context, Simplify has created a ground-breaking product that seeks to hedge interest rate risk for end users, work developed by derivatives pioneer Harley Bassman. In an environment in which fiscal and monetary policy are acting powerfully in tandem, such a product can easily prove critical to defending the potential inflation that may already be surfacing. Lastly, Paul and I touch on the fast moving world of cryptocurrencies and how his firm is thinking about giving investors access to this new asset class and the potentially diversifying role it may serve in a portfolio. I hope you enjoy this episode of the Alpha Exchange, my conversation with Paul Kim.