By Kim Jae-won
Staff Reporter

Foreign banks are expected to increase their presence in the Korean market next year by expanding investment in new business areas, international banks here said Thursday.

Standard Chartered Korea leads the trend. The U.K.-based lender said that it will increase its investment in the country by roughly $100 million in the next two years. The lender will invest in Korean businesses with the proceeds from the sale of its real estate.

Last year, it used the proceeds from the sale of its training center in Seoul for the establishment of its securities unit. The bank currently owns $1 billion worth of real estate.

The lender is also considering entering the insurance business by acquiring a local company.

``We will continue to invest in people and businesses in Korea. We have set high expectations for business opportunities in Korea in the future,'' said SC First Bank CEO Richard Hill at a press conference in Seoul's Plaza Hotel earlier this month.

HSBC plans to move its headquarters from London to Hong Kong to focus on Asian markets, which occupy about half of its total revenue.

It recently announced that its Chief Executive Michael Geoghegan will move to Hong Kong in February. HSBC was founded in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1865, but relocated its headquarters to London after acquiring the Midland Bank in 1992.

``Our group is pursuing such a move to keep up with the gradual shift in the world's center of economic gravity from the West to the East,'' the HSBC Group said in a press release.

HSBC tried to expand its presence in the nation by acquiring Korea Exchange Bank last year, but failed as the financial watchdog did not approve the deal as the latter was facing a legal dispute.

Analysts advised that foreign banks need to focus on specific customers.

``Foreign banks had better use differentiation strategies from domestic banks. They need to focus on specific customers who may use the branches. If they try to do marketing for more customers, it may not be easy because local banks are stronger than them in terms of branch networks and customer base,'' said Hwang Seok-kyu, an analyst of Kyobo Securities.

shosta@koreatimes.co.kr