Chairman Kim Yong-hwan of NH Financial Group said this will be the initial year for the group to explore the global financial markets by setting up operations in countries like China, Myanmar and Indonesia.
To help inter-Korean economic ties, NH and the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) will set up an agricultural complex in North Korea to grow farm produce and export Korean farm produce in cooperation with Chinese financial companies.
Kim said NH Financial will not only set up financial operations in foreign countries, but will go a step further to mix it with agricultural deals under a strategy in cooperation with the NACF.
At a meeting to map out the group’s strategy for 2016, Chairman Kim said on Dec. 30 that Korean financial institutions’ overseas operations so far have been limited to dealings with other Korean companies, business people and Korean communities abroad. Therefor, he said they are not truly overseas operations in the truest sense of the words.
NH Financial Holding has been working together with farm communities to help them sell Korean produce and other food, including kimchi, milk and Korean beef.
He said the financial holding may sign cooperative agreements with a number of Chinese agricultural organizations like the NACF in such key areas of businesses as non-life insurance, lending and leasing (capital) through joint-venture firms set up to deal directly with agricultural communities and organizations in China.
Nonghyup Financial Group announced Jan. 6 it will make inroads into the Chinese financial market by partnering with a Chinese agricultural cooperative group.
The financial unit of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (Nonghyup) said it inked a Memorandum of Understanding with China Co-op Group, an agricultural retail business, to cooperate in the creation of a financial firm on mainland China, on Jan. 5 in Beijing.
China Co-op is a subsidiary of All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, a Chinese entity similar to Nonghyup in Korea, with 187 trillion won ($156 billion) in assets and about 200,000 member companies across the mainland.
The retail subsidiary, set up in 2010, has 16.5 trillion won in total assets, and is the 83rd-largest corporation among the 500 biggest Chinese companies. It ranks 31st among service firms.
“China Co-op chose Nonghyup because it has deep knowledge about agriculture and skills in the financial business,” the group said in a press release.
Nonghyup will advise on management of the new financial company, provide necessary technology and make financial investments in the new entity.
The two will also establish a joint venture to cooperate in general insurance, loan leasing, consumer finance and online loan businesses.
To fulfill the MOU, the two groups will create a task force and start various exchange programs to promote collaboration, the group said.
“With the conclusion of the Korea-China FTA and Korea’s joining of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, the partnership is meaningful for the financial sector and shows a route the Korean financial industry should take in the future,” said Kim Yong-hwan, chairman of Nonghyup Financial Group.” Kim said the MOU will also be utilized to boost its approach to North Korea in the agricultural sector, seeking to set up an agricultural complex in the reclusive country and provide it with farm produce and foodstuff, which is the best approach to North Korea, which suffers from shortages.
_농협 중국MOU.JPG)
