President Kim Do-jin of the Industrial Bank of Korea. (Photo: IBK)]

President Kim Do-jin of the Industrial Bank of Korea is ebullient about the future of the bank with the bank posting the best H1 results since the bank was launched, which was also transferred to the overseas operation with the bank benefiting from its first M&A overseas in line with President Kim’s stress on boosting the bank’s overseas operations since he took over the top management of the bank in 2017.

President Kim glorified the launch of the Indonesian subsidiary, the IBK as the greatest achievement in the 56-year history of the bank.

President Kim called for the IBK’s Asian financial belt since he first took office back in 2017 and has been working hard to accomplish the task as if to show with his action the promise he made at the time of his inauguration that he will visit every overseas outlet of the bank during his term of office.

He called Indonesia “post China” market due to the great potential that the country has for industrial development.

The bank has outlets so far in such Asian countries as India, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines and he will visit every one of those outlets to check their operations as part of his work cut out for building the bank’s Asian financial belt before his term of office expires next year.

The bank plans to localize its outlets in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vietnam as soon as its application for the move to the Vietnamese Central Bank is approved. IBK Indonesia Bank as a top bank for SMEs in the S.E. Asian country. By 2025, the bank targets to set up 165 outlets in 20 countries around the world.

President Kim has been giving top priority to setting up the operation in Indonesia as it is a key part of the bank’s plan to build IBK’s Asian financial belt. He also wants to develop the IBK Indonesia Bank as a top bank for SMEs in the S.E. Asian country with its financial services armed with advanced financial technologies and digitalized to spur the financial market in Indonesia with a new “burning” wind.

IBK launched IBK Indonesia Bank, which should go down as the first merger of foreign banks overseas since IBK’s history. The bank is set to financially assist not only Korean businesses there, but also local Indonesian businesses. IBK’s plan is to increase the number of branches there from 30 to 55 by 2023.

This is in line with IBK’s vision to expand its presence in the fast-growing region of Southeast Asia.
“Indonesia is a key partner of the government's renewed policy focus on Southeast Asia, and around 2,000 Korean firms have a presence there,” an IBK official said, due to the great potential that the country has for industrial development recently, the bank introduced the “i-One SME Loan Product,” allowing SMEs to take out loans without coming the bank counters, and “Loans for Those with Jobs.”

The bank has also been providing a service in which customers can transfer money without certificate numbers with just a six-digit secret number and smartphone.

IBK has also been sparing no effort to help Fintech start-ups using SME financial know-how through its Fintech Dream Lab. IBK nominated six SME start-ups for awards at the 2016 IBK Dream Collection Exhibition to be the second-term recipients of its financial support.

The bank will also provide non-financial support to those firms, including counseling, mentoring, getting investors for them and overseas advancement, among others, for six months.

IBK has also been running an website where customers can get information on startups and SMEs that want investments, and on middlemen for small investors online to connect investors with SMEs that want investments.

IBK has also been at work to expand its overseas operational network to help SMEs to find earnings sources in such regions as Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central and South America, which have high potential for growth.

The bank had focused on China in particular, and as a result, its earnings in the neighboring country shot up to 10.1 billion won as of the end of June this year, from just 3.8 billion won at the end of last year.

IBK has not been dragging its feet to help SMEs build bases for their growth. As a result, the bank’s outstanding loans to SME borrowers stood at 130 trillion won in April in four years after the figures amounted to 100 trillion won in 2012.

To help SMEs sustain their growth, the bank rushed to expand its program geared to support SMEs grow together so that no company would be left behind.

The bank has set aside 3.9 trillion won to be provided to the 5,888 SMEs that signed cooperative agreements with 154 larger companies in March under the Growth Companionship Cooperative Project.