South Korea's Woori Bank Gets Approval to Open Vietnam Unit -- Update
August 04 2016 - 12:45AM
Dow Jones News
By Vu Trong Khanh
HANOI--The State Bank of Vietnam said Thursday it has agreed in
principle to allow South Korea's Woori Bank (000030.SE) to open a
wholly owned unit in the country.
South Korea is among the largest sources of foreign direct
investment in Vietnam. Several large Korean companies have set up
major production bases in the Southeast Asian country because of
its cheaper labor and the free-trade agreements the nation has
signed with South Korea and others.
Woori Bank would be the second Korean bank to open a wholly unit
in Vietnam, after Shinhan Financial Group Co. (055550.SE), and the
sixth foreign lender. The others are Australia & New Zealand
Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ.AU), Hong Leong Bank Bhd. (5819.KU), HSBC
Holdings PLC (HSBC.LN) and Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.LN).
The central bank said Woori Bank would need to complete the
necessary paperwork before receiving a license to open the
division, adding that it has approved a list of proposed executives
for the unit.
South Korea is Vietnam's third-largest trading partner, with
trade totaling $36.6 billion last year, an increase of 31.5% from
the previous year, according to official data. Bilateral trade is
expected to continue to rise thanks to the countries' free-trade
agreement, which came into effect in December.
South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. (005930.SE) is the largest
foreign investor in Vietnam, where it has several factories
producing electronics and smartphones. Exports of smartphones, most
of which were made by Samsung, totaled $19.45 billion in the first
seven months of this year, up 13.4% from a year earlier, and
accounted for one-fifth of Vietnam's total export revenue,
according to official data.
Write to Vu Trong Khanh at trong-khanh.vu@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 04, 2016 00:30 ET (04:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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