President Lee Dong-cheol, center, shakes hands with Director Chung Chan-hyung of Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., L, and Chairman Oh Sei-hyung of Kolao Group, R, after signing the agreement to take over Tomato Specialized Bank in Cambodia on April 5. (Photo: KB Kookmin Card)

KB Kookmin Card and Kolao Group jointly took over Tomato Special Bank, a local bank in Cambodia, with the credit card company taking a 90 percent stake and a local business group run by the Korea expatriate business people sharing 10 percent stake in the native commercial bank, Kookmin Card said on April 5.
The credit card company said the local business group owns Indonesian Bank, which will take over the stake in the TSB with the purpose of securing a share of the installment financing for automobiles in the S.E. Asian country. Laying out the reasons for the takeover, Kookmin said the local bank’s loans have been expanding over 30 percent annually at an excellent profitability and soundness.
The credit card company will try automobile installment finance, loans on credit and check card operations first to see if they are see uptake in the financial market in Cambodia and then move on to credit cards and the installment finance for durable goods when the bank opens for business in six months time.
Interest rates on auto installment financing will be competitive in combination with the convenience of lease companies to segregate itself from the existing operators, the credit card firm said.
In the area of credit loans, various non-facing financial consultations will be introduced using Big Data, for an advanced credit analysis model, fully aware of the frequent uses of mobile equipment such as smart phones in conducting financial businesses among young customers in the country.
For credit card operations, various localized credit card businesses in such areas as goods, services and processes and others, using diverse technologies such as fintech and mobile, will be introduced in the S.E. Asian country.
An official of KB Bank said a lot of the uncertainty in local financial industry has been eliminated with the takeover of a local bank. It’s much faster than setting up a local financial institution on its own. In entering Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar, the cared card company will have an easier time making further advancements in S.E. Asia.
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