...Korean Banks to Continue to Expand Abroad Amid Saturated Domestic Market The assets and pre-tax profit of the South Korean banking system's overseas operations (branches and subsidiaries) have increased by 52% and 29%, respectively, over the five years to end-2017. Fitch Ratings expects the Korean banks to continue to expand their overseas businesses due to the low profitability and subdued growth prospects in the saturated Korean market, particularly relative to the developing ASEAN markets. Banks' overseas expansion has been via organic growth and small acquisitions, and they are seeking to boost their local customer base rather than to serve only Korean companies overseas. The contribution of overseas operations remains moderate, and is sensitive to the performance of domestic operations and foreign-exchange rates. The overseas businesses have accounted for 4%-5% of the system's consolidated assets and 7%-12% of pre-tax profit in the recent years. The three most active banks ¡ Shinhan...
