By Kim Jae-won
The head of ING Bank’s Seoul branch said last week he sees big business opportunities here thanks to Korean companies’ ambitious globalization projects, which the Amsterdam-based global lender is well placed to support with its customized corporate finance services.
Jeroen Plag, country manager of the bank’s Korean unit, said that the company targets specific customers who need ING’s special services, which combine its knowledge of its clients’ business, expertise in specialized sectors of finance and a global network.
“Clearly there is a lot of potential for opportunities. We play a very strong role for companies such as Hyundai, Samsung, SK and LG,” said Plag in an interview with The Korea Times.
He says the bank recently added some state-run companies such as Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) and K-Water among others to its customer list.
The 42-year-old Dutch banker said that as Korean companies gear up for active internationalization projects, they may need the lender’s professional financial services overseas.
“Our focused business is uniquely positioned to capture the growing financing needs in Korea,” he said. “Specifically, we are specialists in intra-Asia and Asia-Europe business and we have expertise in particular sectors such as natural resources, oil and gas. This plus our international network has strong appeal to Korean companies with cross-border financing needs.”
Plag, who has led the branch for two-and-half years since 2009, said that the bank has helped Korean lenders, such as Hana Bank, do business in Europe, where ING has knowledge and experience.
“They have operations and a lot of payments in Europe, but Korean banks don’t know Europe as well as we do,” he explained.
He expressed pride in the lender’s strong point in capital markets.
ING Bank’s Seoul branch won the first prize in four categories last year — currency options, currency forwards (0-2 years), currency forwards (2+years) and non-deliverable forwards — from the Asia Risk Interdealer, a finance magazine, which surveyed clients and institutions.
“Our trading room is a very strong local market player. We really put effort and time and capital in to make this happen.”
Plag said that ING is ready to weather the eurozone debt crisis because it had restructured in the wake of the previous Lehman Brothers crisis. He said the bank had taken a lot of action after the 2008 crisis selling units in the U.S. and elsewhere.
The veteran banker said the current crisis is more serious than the previous one because it is more complicated.
“This crisis is very, very serious. Governments and banks and capital markets are all related.”