NongHyup Bank chief leads overseas expansion

NongHyup Bank CEO Lee Dae-hoon

By Lee Kyung-min

NongHyup Bank CEO Lee Dae-hoon is on a seven-day trip to Hong Kong and two South East Asian countries, as part of a strategic move to ensure successful overseas business expansion, the bank said Monday.

Lee visited Hong Kong Jan. 27 and Indonesia Jan. 28, and is set to visit Vietnam and other countries before returning home Feb. 2.

“The primary focus of the visit is to make sure our business plans in the key areas go without any problems,” an official from the bank said.

The lender is now seeking to obtain a license to provide banking services in Hong Kong and to secure approval to set up a corporate body in Indonesia. It also seeks to open a branch in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

The bank said future business strategies will be outlined to best meet the needs of customers in respective areas in the three countries.

The one-week visit will be soon followed by a trip to the U.S. where the bank's New York branch had to pay an $11 million (12.3 billion won) fine for failing to meet compliance requirements on anti-money laundering.

“It is rather painful that we had to pay the price for not maintaining the utmost stringent standards on compliance issues for our overseas business. Lee is of the opinion that overseas branches must be managed just as equally and thoroughly by the CEO,” the official said.

Lee's efforts for overseas expansion are part of the bank's larger initiative to expand revenue sources. It aims to record 1.28 trillion won in net income in 2019, up from the previous year's 1.1 trillion won.

“It is our mission to maintain stable profit generation which will require our strengthened capability through systemic and well-organized management,” the official said.

“We will continue our efforts to identify new, sustainable growth engines by finding business models that can maximize synergy among our customers and those involved in our financial services.”