South Korea

NH Investment and Securities

Korea’s big lenders are striking out properly for the first time, buying assets and opening branches across southeast Asia. With their home market saturated, they have little choice but to travel in hope. But will that be enough?

Kakao Bank has become a powerful presence in its home market very quickly. In the 24 hours after the internet-only bank was launched in July 2017, 300,000 people applied for accounts, more than the number of requests most traditional lenders receive through their online channels in a year.

Korea’s private banking world has long been curiously underdeveloped, particularly given that it serves one of the world’s largest economies, not to mention one of the most aspirational and financially literate.

South Korea is a tough place for foreign lenders. The market is big, but dominated by local players and burdened by onerous regulations. Global players have come and gone over the years, most notably HSBC, which pulled out of the retail market in 2013.

Few financial institutions in Asia can surely be as focused on corporate and social responsibility as Hana Financial Group, parent of top-tier domestic lender KEB Hana Bank.

There are banks that excel at offering a solid range of financial services to small and medium-sized enterprises. And then there are actual SME banks, which exist primarily to serve the needs of buzzing young firms, the lifeblood of any economy.

Credit Suisse is consistently at or near the top of the tree in Korea’s fiercely competitive investment banking world. The Swiss firm reported more net income than any other foreign securities firm in 2016, according to data from the financial regulator.