South Korea’s NH NongHyup Bank said Monday it has received final approval from Myanmar’s financial authorities to launch and operate a subsidiary in the Southeast Asian country.
The announcement comes 10 months after the lender submitted an application to the Central Bank of Myanmar, which handles financial supervisory of state-owned, private and foreign banks in the country.
NH NongHyup has been operating a microfinancing institution in Myanmar since 2016 and has worked as a stepping-stone for the latest approval from the central bank, the lender said.
The South Korean bank’s Yangon branch plans to establish a systemic network with Myanmar’s financial authorities, while taking necessary steps to establish a banking business in the country. A local manager will be hired to launch a localized system as well.
“Myanmar is a primary industry with agriculture accounting for a key part, which will allow NH NongHyup, which its expertise lies in agricultural finance, strive in the market,” NongHyup Bank CEO Son Byung-hwan said.
So far, Shinhan Bank is the only South Korean lender to operate a branch in Myanmar, after receiving the license in 2016. But with KB Kookmin and state-run banks Industrial Bank of Korea and Korea Development Bank having clinched preliminary licenses to launch branches earlier this year, more Korean banks are set to enter the market.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
