Shinhan Bank has decided to offer financial services to foreign companies importing Korean goods from Korea, breaking away from the past practice, which had financial services offered only to Korean trade firms located in Korea.

Shinhan Bank signed a business cooperative agreement with Korea Trade Insurance Corp. to boost global export finance. Under the agreement, KTIC will provide the trade insurance contracts to the overseas branches of Shinhan Bank so that these branches can provide the loans to foreign importers of Korean goods.

The overseas outlets of Shinhan Bank will now be able to offer the short-term export loans covered by those insurance policies.

Shinhan Bank, with the largest number of its outlets in Southeast Asia, is looking forward to supporting the government’s new Southern Policies designed to expand economic cooperation with the countries in the region. Officials of the bank said they signed a cooperative agreement with KTIC to help the Korean exporters to boost exports to the region.

“We will make ceaseless efforts to help the Korean exporters to spur their exports and grow so that we might be able to contribute for spurt in the national economy.”

The bank also joined the One ‘Team Korea made of Korean firms operating in Myanmar to help Korean firms operating in Myanmar and Korea-Myanmar economic cooperation.

The members include in addition to Shinhan Bank, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, the Industrial Bank of Korea, the Korea Technology Guarantee Fund, Korea Trade Insurance Corp., the Korea Trade Organization, the Korea Industrial Manpower Complex, and the Export and Import Bank of Korea, made of 9 financial and state-run firms in Korea.

Shinhan Vietnam Bank, the wholly-owned local subsidiary of Shinhan Bank in Vietnam with the head office in Hanoi, said it has recently opened four new branches in the S.E. Asian country, including Danang, Haiphong and Hanoi.

The bank now has a total of 36 outlets around Vietnam including 15 in Northern Vietnam and the rest in the southeastern regions of the S.E. Asian country centered around Ho Chi Minh City.

It became the first foreign bank to open a branch in Danang, in the central region of Vietnam. A celebration took place for the new branch at Hilton Danang Hotel on Aug. 15 with a horde of dignitaries both local and Korean attending led by President Jin Ok-dong. President Jin said in his congratulatory speech that the bank will continue to set up local outlets in the host country so that it would be able to compete fairly with local financial institutions.

The bank also named the head of its Vietnamese local subsidiary to take charge of its operations in neighboring countries including Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam, of course, as regional head.

A group of CEOs from Korea's leading commercial and state-run banks are stepping up efforts to expand in Myanmar, one of many untapped markets in Southeast Asia known for its huge growth potential.

They are part of President Moon Jae-in's delegation to Myanmar, a viable alternative to the Chinese market.

Those accompanying Moon include Shinhan Bank CEO Jin Ok-dong, KB Kookmin Bank CEO Hur Yin, KEB Hana Bank CEO Ji Sung-kyoo, Woori Financial Group Chairman Sohn Tae-seung, Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) CEO Kim Do-jin and Korea Federation of Banks (KFB) Chairman Kim Tae-young.

KFB CEO Kim signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with his counterpart in Myanmar on Sept. 4 to boost the Financial Knowledge Sharing Program, a personnel exchange program to bolster cooperation among financial figures in the two countries.

KB Kookmin Bank’s Hur signed an MOU with Myanmar’s labor minister U Thein Swe and the Human Resources Development Service of Korea (HRD Korea) in Yangon on the same day.