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Korea Exchange Bank unique in global operations and providing tailor-made services to foreign customers

President Larry Klane of Korea Exchange Bank said recently that KEB will continue to provide innovative and differentiated services to foreign companies and foreign investors by doing its utmost to attract foreign investments in Korea.
The KEB President made the statement after he got the award for KEB’s top banking services to foreign residents in Korea through its exclusive counter for foreign customers managed by its foreign customer team, which is the first one for any Korean banks in 1999.
To strengthen the team’s operation, KEB launched the Foreign Customer Sales Division for the first time for a domestic bank in July, 2008, to improve its services to foreign customers with specialized services.
The new division provides the development of services for foreign clients’ and investors’ declaration of foreign direct investments and post-management, and it is making a big contribution to attracting foreign direct investments in Korea.
The Foreign Customers Sales Division has been operating three VIP centers for foreigners and 15 global desks in areas with a large number of foreign residents in Korea to provide specialized services for foreign companies an clients while managing 14 Foreign Company Strategic branches in industrial complexes where foreign plants operate. KEB has been operating 13 branches around the country on Sundays for migrant workers.
KEB, in September, 2008, set up a business partnership with the Chinese Korean Association and has been issuing an association-partnership cards to attract foreign companies and expand channels to secure foreign customers through tie-ups with foreign communities in Korea. In addition, KEB has been providing consultation and financial services to Chinese firms operating in Korea to help them to do better business in Korea.
President Klane with a special interest in the Foreign Customers Sales Division, due to his extensive experience in international banking, especially on financial needs of global companies, has been allocating much of his time to see the division achieve its annual targets this year.
“With an aim to achieve ‘sustainable & qualitative growth in the foreign customer market,’ the bank is making efforts to explore the foreign customers in Korea by offering tailor-made services to them, mainly made of workers from a number of Asian countries.
They are from such Asian countries as Japan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Mongolia and Vietnam, among others, by offering extensive use of KEB’s outstanding foreign exchange remittance service, for which the KEB maintains a very track record.
As of December, 31, last year, KEB has 47 overseas outlet network in 21 countries, the largest among Korean banks, in such countries as the United States, China, and Europe and 352 branches and outlets at home.
KEB’s extensive operational network both at home and abroad has been a huge factor for its profit growth amounting to 1 trillion won from 2005 and 2007. In 2008, the bank posted 782.6 billion won in profits amid global financial crisis and went on to become the bank that recovered the fastest from the slump among commercial banks recording 891.7 billion won in profit at the end of 2009, the second highest among commercial banks in the country.
KEB plans to offer customized financial services to meet the financial needs of global corporate customers in line with its reputation as the Korea’s largest global bank and maintain dominant competitive superiority in the foreign exchange and trade finance sector.
The bank also set up KEB Asia Finance Limited in order to operate investment banking business in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and the Asia -Pacific region in July, 2009. The bank plans to link it with its overseas network and seek a new growth engine in the IB sector. KEB has already been operating in China from 1992 since Korea’s normalization of its diplomatic relations with China with branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Dalian and 3 agencies and these banking units will be put under a local subsidiary to be set up in Tianjin in China in the first half of this year. KEB will continue to expand its branches in China, while expanding its partnership with Chinese financial institutions. KEB also will diversify its financial products for foreign customers through a systematic and superior service system. As part of such effort, the bank has launched the Expat Card, Global Card and Ethnic Korean Card for foreigners since 2004 and has also been providing English SMS and bills and 24/7 response system in English for specialized services. nw

President Larry Klane of Korea Exchange Bank.