ING to open securities branch in Seoul
31 August 2016
ING will open a securities branch in Seoul as we invest in our international network to better serve our clients and seize growth opportunities in different regions.
After today receiving a securities branch license from the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Korea, the new securities branch in Seoul will offer capital market products to both local and international corporate clients and financial institutions in Korea.
ING Bank established a presence in Seoul in 1991 and has become one of the leading international banks in the country, offering a full range of corporate and investment banking products. However, a separate securities license is necessary in Korea to conduct the full range of capital market activities, as there is a strict barrier between banking and securities businesses.
A dedicated team at the new branch will now start to originate, structure, underwrite and distribute debt capital market and alternative investment assets to existing and new corporate and institutional clients in Korea, and leverage our international track record in this area.
“ING has built a strong client base and track record in Korea over the last 25 years. We are therefore delighted to now be able to offer our customers access to capital market products. Korean companies have been expanding and we have seen a growing demand from them for European and US assets in the current low interest rate environment. I am confident this expanded capacity, together with our commercial banking activities at the branch, will better fit our clients’ needs,” said Jonghoon Hyun, country manager ING Korea.
Over the past two years we’ve opened representative offices in Sweden, Colombia, and India (pending regulatory approvals). Our New York office has added trade commodity finance to its product offering, and we’ve opened a satellite office in Chicago. In Asia, we have upgraded our representative office in Beijing to a branch. Our global network spans across 40 countries including Europe, the Americas and 13 markets in the Asia Pacific.