NongHyup Financial Group on Thursday announced that its new brokerage arm created by a merger between NongHyup Investment & Securities and Woori Investment & Securities would be launched on Dec. 31.

It also said that Woori Aviva Life Insurance will merge with NongHyup Life Insurance in the first half of 2015, while Woori FG Savings Bank will be placed under NongHyup Financial as of this month.

With the package deal involving the three Woori units, NongHyup Financial Group will be reborn as the country’s fourth-largest financial group. At a press conference held on Thursday by Yim Jong-yong, who is serving his first year as chairman of NongHyup, he said he expects the company’s assets to reach 420 trillion won ($413 billion) by 2020, up from the current 295 trillion won.

“The strength of the integrated (NongHyup and Woori) entity will create a synergy effect that can be likened to two cogs working together,” Yim said. “We hope to nurture it into one of the nation’s leading brokerage houses.”

The first step for the newly created securities firm will be to operate hedge funds, as the government had offered the rights as an incentive to sweeten the deal for NongHyup.

Regarding its global marketing strategies, Yim said NongHyup is in talks with potential overseas partners to enter agriculture-driven regions such as Southeast Asia, China and the Gulf states.

“Helping the agriculture industry and regional development is what we can do and what we’re good at,” Yim said, adding that he hopes NongHyup can become a brokerage representing South Korea.

NongHyup traditionally has roots in community banking services.

In April, NongHyup Financial announced that it would take over three of the Woori Financial Group affiliates. The takeover came after NongHyup beat out KB Financial Group to become the priority bidder in December. The government had been looking to pare Woori down and seek its privatization in order to help recoup outstanding public funds from the business, which had been formed in 2001 by absorbing a number of bad banks.

By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)