Woori Bank

Strong market position as Korea's second-largest bank High likelihood of receiving extraordinary government support Strong corporate banking business Relatively large exposure to risky sectors Moderate capitalization Relatively weak core earnings The stable outlook on Woori Bank reflects Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' view that potential credit risks remain manageable and the bank is likely to be able to maintain its current level of capitalization for the next 24 months. With its current preprovisioning profit levels, we believe Woori will likely be able to manage even if credit costs were to rise amid the currently challenging operating environment. That's despite potential pressure on the quality of household debt and ongoing pressure on the credit quality of the real-estate and construction sectors

...Outlook: Stable The stable outlook on Woori Bank reflects Standard & Poor's Ratings Services' view that potential credit risks remain manageable and the bank is likely to be able to maintain its current level of capitalization for the next 24 months. With its current preprovisioning profit levels, we believe Woori will likely be able to manage even if credit costs were to rise amid the currently challenging operating environment. That's despite potential pressure on the quality of household debt and ongoing pressure on the credit quality of the real-estate and construction sectors as well as the shipping and shipbuilding sectors. We also believe the Korean government's privatization process for Woori Finance Holdings (WFH: not rated), including the recent merger between WFH and Woori, is unlikely to have any significant rating implications for Woori. Government ownership has not been a major factor for our assessment of potential extraordinary government support for Woori. Despite the potential...

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