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| NH NongHyup Bank CEO Kwon Jun-hak, front, is responding to congratulatory message by South Korean Ambassador to the U.K. Kim Gunn, behind Kwon, who participated in the bank's opening of its London branch, Thursday. Courtesy of NH Nonghyup Bank |
By Kim Yoo-chul
NH NongHyup Bank, one of the country's leading banks, has opened its first office in London, the bank said Thursday.
The establishment of its London branch follows recent decisions by NH's domestic peers to maintain each of their London operations despite the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union, as the former EU member is still the world's largest center for cross-border banking.
"The opening of NH's London office demonstrates the bank's zeal to expand business territories beyond the Korean Peninsula. In terms of its significance, the London office will have the same authority as our New York and Hong Kong offices," the bank's CEO Kwon Jun-hak was quoted as saying in a statement.
Regarding the specific roles NH's Seoul headquarters will assign to its London office, bank officials declined to comment. But as London is one of the major centers for private and investment banking, NH is widely expected to explore its best possible chances to level up its investment banking-centric management skills.
Many top-tier international banks are already operating their private and investment banking businesses in the U.K., including Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan and RPC Capital Markets. According to the recent data by from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), the U.K. was the leader in terms of global foreign exchange trading volume, followed by the United States.
Given NH's somewhat weak presence in investment banking, it would be a very time-consuming process for the bank to improve its investment banking-oriented ability through its new office.
But since nearly twice as many U.S. dollars are being traded on the foreign exchange market in the U.K. than in the United States and more than twice as many euros are also being traded in the U.K. than in all the eurozone area combined, NH's London office is expected to place short-term priority on earning commission via managing foreign exchange deals requested by Korean exporters.
