HONG KONG (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 18, 2013--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on Woori Bank (Woori; A-/Stable/A-2) and Woori Finance Holdings Co. Ltd. (WFH; BBB+/Stable/A-2) would be unaffected by WFH's spinoff of Woori Bank's credit card business, which the Financial Services Commission preliminarily approved on Jan. 16, 2013. In our view, the spinoff is unlikely to have a significant near-term impact on WFH's consolidated group credit profile, which is a key rating factor in our ratings on Woori. With recent tightening in the regulatory oversight of the credit card industry's expansion, we expect the group to increase its exposure to unsecured consumer credit at a reasonable pace and keep its total exposure to such credit
