Hana Bank opens Taiwan branch, becomes first Korean to have a commercial branch in the country

Hana Bank has set up a commercial bank in Taiwan, and its office is located in the country’s capital of Taipei. With this new location, the financial company has become the first South Korean commercial bank to open a branch in the region.

As per The Korea Times, Hana Bank announced the opening of its new Taipei office earlier this week. It said that the goal of having this branch is to tap into Taiwan’s investment banking market.

With its move to build a unit in the country, Hana Bank is now the only bank with a financial network within South Korea’s 10 major trading partners that includes the United States, Vietnam, and China. The company was able to open its Taiwan branch after securing a license from the nation’s financial authority.

This gives Hana Bank the permission to have an office and operate its business here. It was further mentioned that the license also allows the Korean banking institution to offer retail banking and local currency-based corporate financing services to the locals.

"The opening of the Taipei office is meaningful, as the prolonged COVID-19 shock has caused difficulties in doing business here and abroad," Hana Bank’s vice president of global business, Lee Jong Seung, said in a statement. "We are going to provide an advanced level of financial services to local citizens as well as Korean companies there."

Yonhap News Agency reported that Hana Bank stated its Taipei location will be dealing with foreign currency business in addition to the corporate and retail financial services. Moreover, the company is expecting to benefit from both the South Korean and Taiwanese companies that will seek out its services.

Meanwhile, the bank is looking to get itself involved in investments from Taiwan’s infrastructural businesses, such as the energy units, airlines, and railway divisions. Once this happens, Hana Bank said there is a high possibility that it can also become the main outpost for investment banking in Asia.

Finally, with the new branch, the company now has 192 networks in 25 countries worldwide. These numbers and reach make Hana Bank the largest in terms of scale among the Korean banks.