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| Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) CEO Yoon Jong-won talks online with bankers in other countries at his office in Seoul, during the OECD's High level Event on Financing Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises for Sustainability in this Nov. 2 file photo. Courtesy of IBK |
By Park Jae-hyuk
Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) CEO Yoon Jong-won will fly to Europe next week, as part of the state-run bank's efforts to expand its global presence, the bank said Tuesday.
This is the first time for him to travel overseas for business as the IBK CEO, since his appointment in January last year.
"The CEO will visit our London branch, and will also go to Poland, on the sidelines of his meeting with OECD Deputy Secretary-General Yoshiki Takeuchi and OECD Center for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities Director Lamia Kamal-Chaoui in Paris to discuss measures to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)," an IBK spokesman said.
Poland is regarded as the most important destination for Yoon's forthcoming week-long trip, as he will review the bank's plan to open a local office there, which the bank has been pursuing over the past several years.
"Many Korean companies, including SMEs, are doing business in Poland, as the country is serving as Europe's production base," the IBK spokesman said.
At this moment, IBK's London branch is its only outlet in Europe.
The bank has felt the necessity of establishing a new outlet in the continent, since Brexit has deteriorated London's status as the global financial hub and made it difficult for the London branch to make transactions with other European countries.
From that standpoint, Yoon's predecessor also visited Poland in 2019 and sent IBK employees to the country to research the market. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused difficulties.
Yoon's forthcoming trip is therefore expected to give momentum to the plan, increasing the likelihood of the bank submitting an application for its local office to the Polish authorities early next year at the earliest.
