Growth of Korean financial firms' overseas units slows in 2009

SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Yonhap) -- The number of overseas operations of South Korean
financial firms has been on the rise, but the growth slowed in 2009 owing to the
global financial meltdown, the financial watchdog said Thursday.

Korean financial firms had 314 overseas operations as of the end of 2009, up from
299 the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Since 2007, they have expanded the number of their overseas operations including
wholly-owned units and branches, but in 2009, the growth of their overseas units
slowed in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Emerging Asian countries including China and Vietnam were the most favored
regions with the number of their total overseas units reaching 210 last year, it
added.
The FSS said it plans to actively support overseas expansion by local financial
firms in a bid to help them secure new growth engines and beef up their global
competitiveness.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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