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Shinhan Bank Co., the flagship unit of South Korea's No. 4 lender Shinhan
Financial Group Co., will seek to expand its foothold in Asia this year as part
of an effort to grow amid a saturated domestic market, its chief said
Sunday.
"We'll boost the portion of overseas profit to 10 percent (of
the total) by 2015 from the current 6 percent through pre-empting the Southeast
Asian emerging market, following the takeover of an Indonesian bank," Suh
Jin-won, the president of Shinhan Bank, told Yonhap News Agency in an
interview.
Suh vowed to set up 7-8 branches in Japan and Vietnam this
year from the current four in all of Asia, with a plan to open an office in
Myanmar soon.
Shinhan Bank bought a 40 percent stake in Indonesian Bank
Metro Express in December last year, in a bid to tap deeper into the Southeast
Asian market.
He ruled out taking chances in the developed market,
saying it doesn't warrant good performance given that a sizable investment is
needed in jittery conditions.
Instead, the bank intends to tap into Eastern
Europe and will send its employees to potential countries for a market study,
Suh added.
The bank chief also said that in order to be in step with
the incoming government's policy to bolster support for small and medium
enterprises (SMEs), Shinhan Bank has decided to hike SME loans to 2.5 trillion
won (US$2.35 billion) from the initial allocation of 1.8 trillion won.
While it's widely expected that local banks will fare worse this year on a
falling interest margin after the central bank's easing monetary measure, Suh
said helping smaller firms should cause the economy to grow, which in turn will
benefit banks with lower corporate credit risks.
"We'll in the
meantime give our best efforts to swiftly restructure marginal businesses to
support growth," he said.
Shinhan Bank posted a net profit of 324.8
billion won in the third quarter of 2012, down 29.1 percent from the previous
year, according to the latest regulatory data.
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