CEO says bank’s new targets include India, Indonesia and Thailand


The Industrial Bank of Korea said it will expand its overseas business in Asia for this year by opening more branches in the region.

Apart from China and Vietnam, the state-owned bank is considering making inroads into India, Indonesia and Thailand, IBK president & CEO Cho Jun-hee told The Korea Herald.

“We are seeking to open a liaison office in India this year. We also plan to tap the markets, such as Indonesia and Thailand, where many Korean enterprises are operating corporations.”

IBK has a mid-term project of opening bank branches in the three Asian countries in the coming years after initially opening liaison offices.

The bank, which is already operating bank branches in China and Vietnam, is also poised to expand business networks in those two countries.

Cho said that IBK has been in talks with the Chinese financial regulator to open branches in Wuhan and Beijing in 2012.

“We’re aiming to increase the number of branches in China from the current nine to 16 by the end of 2013,” he said.

The nine branches are located in major Chinese cities including Tianjin, Qingdao, Shenyang, Yantai and Suzhou.

“In Vietnam, we will develop the liaison office in Hanoi into a branch,” he said. The bank’s Ho Chi Minh branch was opened in March 2008.

Its overseas expansion policy for 2012 is part of the bank’s roadmap unveiled last year to establish the “IBK Finance Belt in East Asia” by 2015.

“When local enterprises advance into a country, we will follow them shortly after,” Cho has said.

The bank also has branches in four financial hubs: New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and London.

Domestically, the bank has been pushing to actively attract retail customers while its main role has been funding small- and mid-sized enterprises.

“We saw the number of retail customers surpass 10 million last year. In 2012, we have set the goal of achieving the tally of 11.5 million,” he said.

It also plans to increase the number of corporate customers from about 800,000 in 2011 to 900,000 in 2012, and to 1 million by the end of 2013.

Meanwhile, Cho reiterated that the bank will take “preemptive risk management” against possibly unfavorable factors amid economic uncertainties at home and abroad this year.

To brace for the uncertainties, its expansion policy will be carried out, based upon strategies to secure financially sound customers, he noted.

Cho started his career at the bank in 1980 after graduating from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

He served in a number of key posts, including head of the lender’s Tokyo branch, management support division and retail customer division. He most recently worked as deputy CEO and executive vice president.

He is the second IBK CEO to not come from the government. The first was Kim Seung-kyung, who headed the bank from 1996-98. The other 19 IBK CEOs were all former government officials.

Established in 1961, IBK has played a significant role in the nation’s economic development by supporting SMEs as a state-controlled lender.

In the long-term, the bank is preparing to become a comprehensive financial services provider.

It has been enhancing its investment banking capability as it seeks to diversify its business portfolio.

The bank’s primary objective is to promote independent economic activities of small and medium-sized enterprises and to enhance their economic position in the Korean economy.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)