Hana, KEB join forces for global expansion

By Kim Jae-won

A Korea Exchange Bank branch in Thornhill, Ontario. / Courtesy of Hana Financial

Hana Financial Group said Wednesday that its two banking affiliates will join forces to speed up their internationalization in the hope of discovering new growth engines given that the local market is already saturated due to fierce competition.

According to the nation’s third-largest financial group, the Korean financial industry has already become a “red ocean,” where players compete fiercely over a limited number of customers.

The group stressed that expanding its offshore network is its first priority. To create synergy in overseas countries, the group plans to let its two banking affiliates ― Hana Bank and Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) ― cooperate in offshore businesses.

“We will enforce our stance as a global financial group by increasing our overseas assets and profits to 10 percent and 15 percent, respectively, by 2015,” said the group in a statement.

The group is making efforts to establish new branches in a number of countries including Myanmar, Turkey, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates and nations in South America. It also seeks to set up new outlets in China and Indonesia, which the company runs its own local units.

For instance, Hana Bank received approval to open a Yangon office from the central bank of Myanmar in September. In Vietnam, where the lender runs an office, it actively engages in corporate social responsibility activities, and has built a baseball park and engaged in reforestation. The bank plans to transfer the office to a banking branch by the first half of next year.

KEB is doing its best to leap forward as the best global bank in the country by increasing its overseas profit portion to 15 percent by 2015 from the current 11 percent. To achieve this goal, the bank is focusing on foreign exchange and trade finance, and established a Global Trade Finance and Remittance Center in Hong Kong in May, which is growing as a new growth engine for the company. This month, KEB set up a Euro Trade Finance and Remittance Center at its German unit.

Currently, the group has a total of 104 overseas branches in 22 countries. Hana Bank has 51 networks in eight countries, including China and Indonesia. Hana-Daetoo Securities have three outlets in China and Hong Kong.