Korea Development Bank eyes acquiring banks overseas

Korea Development Bank seeks to buy overseas banks as fierce competition in local retail financing market hampers growth.

KDB CEO Min Euoo-sung has made it clear a number of times that the bank is interested in M&As. Min said at a press conference earlier last week that it is considering M&As abroad to expand its overseas deposit base. He added that M&As in the local market are also under consideration.

According to a report in the Korea Times, the KDB CEO made it clear that the local retail financing market is already a "red ocean" market, with not much to gain due to fierce competition. He said that KDB won't compete with local players in this market. Rather, it will develop project financing businesses abroad.

Min said that KDB is especially interested in the Asian market. At the press briefing last week, he said that it is eying two or three banks in the region.

Indonesian media recently reported that KDB is interested in acquiring an Indonesian bank.

Min is also chairman of KDB Financial Group, which has five subsidiaries with aggregate assets of 1.6 trillion won ($1.4 billion).