Shinhan to have 1st Middle East branch

By Choi Kyong-ae

Shinhan Bank will this year open its first branch in the Middle East after approval from United Arab Emirates financial authorities, the bank said Wednesday.

“Through the branch, to be established in Dubai in November, we are providing financial services to Korean companies that have advanced to the Middle East and Africa,” Shinhan Bank said.

Shinhan Bank has 73 branches and three offices in 16 countries.

The bank said it sent a team to do a feasibility study for a branch in the oil-rich region because it expected demand for project financing in the Middle East to continue expanding.

Some 200 Korean companies have gone to the United Arab Emirates, the logistics and financial hub of Gulf Cooperation Council member countries. About 500 Koreans live in the UAE, it said.

Big Korean builders such as Samsung Engineering, Samsung C&T and Hyundai Engineering & Construction have built themselves in past decades by winning mega construction projects.

But they were hit hard by the 2008 financial crisis, along with shipbuilders and steelmakers. They are still struggling because of a lack of orders in major markets.