The state-run Korea Development Bank announced on Wednesday the opening of its first local branch in Moscow, Russia.

Launched on Tuesday, local time, the Moscow branch is expected to serve as a start-off point to the bank’s inroads to the country and its neighboring states, bank officials said. Russia became a member of the World Trade Organization in 2012.

“Russia has shown great growth potential in financial industries as its WTO membership brought greater opportunities for foreign investors, in terms of openness, transparency and fair competition of the market,” the bank said in a statement.

Earlier in March, KDB opened an Uzbekistani office, a key post to penetrate the immense Commonwealth of Independent States, comprising 10 former member states of the Soviet Union such as Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

(joowonc@heraldcorp.com)