Major lenders look beyond China, Southeast Asia for growth in 2012


Korea’s four major commercial banks plan to expand their business networks in Asia’s emerging markets this year.

In particular, their 2012 targets include countries in central and Southern Asia as well as those in Southeast Asia, China and Japan.

“Aside from markets like China, Vietnam and Singapore, the banking industry began actively tapping Kazakhstan, India and Bangladesh,” a local banker said.

But he stressed that banks will still put priority on making inroads into large cities in China and Southeast countries.

Kookmin Bank is considering opening branches in China and Osaka, Japan this year.

In addition, the bank is moving to open a liaison office in Mumbai, India under its strategy to diversify operating networks.

Over the past few years, Kookmin Bank has hired local employees in Vietnam, Indonesia, Russia, China and several other countries.

Woori Bank also plans to speed up opening more branches in China. It recently opened its 13th Chinese branch and relocated its key outlet in Beijing to a business hotspot to enhance its private banking service for rich clients.

Among Woori Bank’s overseas targets for this year are Chennai, India and Dacca, Bangladesh.

The lender is pursuing international growth by focusing on improving profitability and the financial soundness of overseas branches.

So far, the lender has a total of 50 overseas offices in 15 countries worldwide. The bank recently added a new office in Indonesia and two branches in China.

Shinhan Bank has been striving to finalize its project to take over a bank in Indonesia.

In 2007, the bank established Shinhan Khmer Bank in Cambodia, followed by Shinhan Bank China and Shinhan Bank Kazakhstan in 2008. Shinhan Bank Japan and Shinhan Vietnam Bank were founded in 2009.

Hana Bank plans to increase the number of branches of its Indonesian unit.

The commercial bank, which opened its first office in Shanghai 15 years ago, views China as one of the most lucrative markets.

Over the past few years, the bank has set up Hana Bank China, with total assets of $1 billion and branches in cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Shenyang, Qingdao, Yantai, Changchun and Harbin.

With the 2008-2009 global financial crisis fading, local banks have been rushing abroad to get the upper hand in emerging markets such as Vietnam, Indonesia and China.

Their aggressive expansion abroad was attributable to limited profitability in the saturated local banking industry.

In particular, China has already become the most popular destination for Korean banks, as there is a possibility that it could be the world’s No. 1 private banking market dealing with wealthy customers in coming years.

Meanwhile, the Financial Supervisory Service plans to tighten oversight of local banks’ overseas operations, diverting from its earlier position of eased regulations to encourage inroads into foreign markets.

“The necessity of bolstering their risk management at overseas branches is growing,” an FSS official said.

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