Dignitaries, including Vice Minister Choi Sang-mok of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and Woori Bank President Lee Kwang-goo, attend a ceremony to open a center for supporting trade, finance and investment with Iran at the Woori Bank headquarters in downtown Seoul. (Photo: Woori Bank)

Woori Bank said it has launched a mobile-only bank service recently ahead of establishing an Internet-only bank.

Woori Bank's "WiBee Bank" will serve as a test bed for simplified services that will later be part of its envisioned Internet-only bank unit, the lender said in a press release.

Users can download a mobile application for the service and borrow loans via a non face-to-face channel that certifies the borrower through a smartphone’s camera.

"WiBee Bank will introduce differentiated products and services. This experience will be helpful in introducing the country's first Internet-only bank," said President Lee Kwang-goo.

Woori Bank's smartwatch app will initially only be available on Samsung Electronics' Gear S2 smartwatch, which will launch Oct. 2. However, the bank plans to release an app for Android smartwatch devices in November and iOS smartwatch devices in January 2016, said Lee Eun-ah, assistant manager from Woori Bank's smart banking department. "Woori Bank will continue to upgrade the app's functions in order to provide more convenient and diverse services [through wearable devices], such as remittance and payments," Lee added. 

Woori Bank said in March 8 that it will set up a Korea desk at an Iranian bank, a first for a Korean bank.

According to a Woori Bank official, the bank agreed with Iran's second largest Bank Pasargad to open a window at Pasargad's Teheran office in May.

"Woori will send an official to Pasargad's Teheran office to prepare a memorandum of understanding (MOU)," the official said. "The official will depart for Iran as early as the end of this month. After the MOU, Woori will provide information and other non-transactional financial services to Korean and Iranian companies which are interested in mutual trading."

South Korea's Woori Bank expects to establish a Vietnam unit, a bank official said, as part of the lender's plans to expand its network in the expanding markets of Southeast Asia.

Woori Bank, South Korea's largest bank in terms of consolidated assets as of the end of March, is awaiting approval from relevant authorities to established a wholly-owned unit in Vietnam, the official said.

A Vietnamese banking source said the State Bank of Vietnam, the country's central bank, was expected to grant a license for the South Korean lender shortly.

South Korea is now the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam, with large investments placed to turn it into a Southeast Asian production hub by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd and LG Electronics Inc. Other major Korean companies in Vietnam include Kumho Construction, Posco group, Hanjin Logistics and Kumho Tire.

A free trade agreement between South Korea and Vietnam that came into effect last December gives more incentives for Korean firms to invest.

Woori Bank has also been stepping up its overseas expansion strategy so far this year designed to boot the overseas outlets to 300 from 205 last year. The bank will also strengthen its fintech application to jack up its image as a leading fintech bank in Korea. The bank also reorganized its operation into three sectors, domestic, overseas and marketing support. It also upgraded the smart financial team to the smart financial operation headquarters and the Investment Banking Team to the Investment Banking Headquarters. 

President Lee said the ultimate purpose for the moves is to help get the bank listed among the top 10 in Asia and top 50 banks in the world by 2020. The bank will open a subsidiary in Frankfurt, Germany, rep. office in Warsaw, Poland and a subsidiary each in Mexico and Brazil next year in line with its strategy to boost its overseas earnings to 30 percent of all earnings by 2020 from a global financial network 500 branches, rep offices and subsidiaries. 

The bank intends to boost the share of its earnings from overseas, with a special focus on the countries in Southeast Asia. 

Its overseas assets totaled $18.2 billion in 2015, with operating profit running to $320 million, up 20 percent and 12 percent respectively YoY.

The bank also plans to step up M&As overseas and subsidiaries, especially in Southeast Asia, to expand its overseas operations and boost its overseas earnings. Analysts say there isn’t much room for growth in the domestic market due to low interest rates, among others factors.