At a press conference in Seoul’s Plaza Hotel, SC First Bank CEO Richard Hill said, “We will continue to invest in people and businesses in Korea. We have set high expectations for business opportunities in Korea in the future.”

“Standard Chartered is the biggest foreign investor in the nation, and has invested about 5 trillion won since it took over Korea First Bank,” said Hill, who will replace outgoing CEO David Edwards from Thursday.

“In the next two years, we will bring in roughly $100 million,” he said.

He also said that the lender will invest in Korean businesses with the proceeds from the sale of its real estate. Last year, it used the proceeds from the sale of its training center in Seoul for the establishment of its securities unit. The bank currently owns $1 billion worth of real estate.

Hill stressed that Korea is a very important market for SC, saying it is its second largest in terms of assets. He added that acquiring Korea First Bank was the biggest deal in SC’s history of over 150 years.

Hill has over 20 years’ international commercial experience, and joined Standard Chartered in 2006 as Chief Financial Officer of Global Consumer Banking based in Singapore. In January 2008, he relocated to Seoul to take up the positions of Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Head of Strategy of SC Korea and SC First Bank.

Prior to joining SC, Richard worked in sales, marketing, finance and general management roles for 19 years, including a 10-year period working in Italy and Greece. He led the successful listing of Allied Domecq PLC on the NYSE in 2002.

Source: The Korea Times (December 16, 2009)