Woori joins KB, Shinhan in establishing financial hub in Jeonju

Woori Financial Group headquarters in Seoul / Korea Times file

Major financial groups are accelerating efforts to turn North Jeolla Province into a financial hub, with Woori Financial Group joining KB and Shinhan in expanding infrastructure and investment in the southwestern region, market watchers said Thursday.

Woori said it will establish key affiliates including asset management, banking and insurance arms to help the province become a financial center under the Lee Jae Myung administration’s “balanced growth” drive.

Central to the initiative is Jeonju, the city where the headquarters of the state-run National Pension Service (NPS) is located.

Woori plans to increase its workforce there to more than 300 from the current 200, including staff at Woori Bank, the NPS’s main trading partner bank.

Woori Asset Management will open a Jeonju office to strengthen ties with the NPS and to expand regional networks.

They will also launch an internship program for university students in the region.

Woori Bank will establish a specialized corporate finance service channel, dubbed the “Jeonbuk BIZ Prime Center,” to support advanced strategic industries and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The center will provide lending, investment and management consulting services.

The group’s insurance affiliates Tongyang Life and ABL Life plan to hire a greater number of employees in the region.

Woori Credit Information will open a Jeonju office to provide debt management services for financial entities in the region.

SMEs and small merchants in the North Jeolla region will be able to seek a combined 1.6 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in funding over the next five years as part of the group’s “productive finance” drive.

The group will also foster fintech startups via its DinnoLab incubation program, helping its Jeonbuk center find a venture fund to boost investment.

Woori said building a capital markets base in Jeonju will enhance the region's competitiveness, contributing to regional economic revitalization.

Earlier, Shinhan Financial launched the group's financial hub in Jeonju, where the group's subsidiaries will strengthen capital market and asset management functions in cooperation with the NPS.

KB Financial also plans to increase the workforce there, elevating the region to an asset management hub, aided by its brokerages, asset management, insurance and banking subsidiaries.