KB Financial Group established a local corporation in China and opened a Beijing branch of its banking unit on Wednesday in a move to advance into Asia’s biggest economy.

Over 400 key financial figures from both countries including KB Financial Group chairman Euh Yoon-dae, KB Financial president Lim Young-rok, and officials from China Banking Regulatory Commission attended the opening event, according to KB.

“It is a necessary step to strengthen KB Financial Group’s future growth engines to advance into China, which is the growth engine of the world economy,” said KB Kookmin Bank CEO Min Byong-deok at the ceremony.

“The local corporation will lead the group’s business in China, using its advanced IT technologies, know-how in retail business and product development. It will expand its customer base not only to Korean companies and residents here but also Chinese companies and individuals.”

The Chinese rarely approve of the opening of a foreign bank’s local company and branch at the same time, said KB officials in a statement. KB’s large client base in Korea as well as skills in online banking seem to have been evaluated highly, they said.

The group also held a Korea-China Finance and Economy Forum in Beijing on the same day to discuss ways for further financial cooperation between the two nations.

“Korea-China trade surpassed $220 billion, increasing 36-fold within the past two decades. But most of the trade comes from the manufacturing industry, and that of the financial industry is still meager,” said chairman Euh at the forum.

“Opinion leaders in the industry should more actively hold discussions and build networks. The forum will be a starting point of building the network for development of the two countries,” he said.

Localization is the keyword for KB’s business in China, according to KB officials. Korean residents and companies will be the main customer base but at the same time the financial group aims to do business for the local residents. The group recruited Chinese executives and employees for the matter to help achieve the goal.

KB currently has four branches in China, including one in Guangzhou, Harbin, Suzhou and the newly opened one in Beijing. It plans to expand its realm by opening more in Shanghai, Tianjin, Qinyang and Qingdao in the near future. 



By Park Min-young (claire@heraldcorp.com)