Foray into Asian Financial Market
On April 5, KB Kookmin Card acquired the Tomato Specialized Bank with Indochina Bank in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Indochina Bank is an affiliated company of KOLAO Group, a major South Korean-Laotian company.
The Tomato Specialized Bank is a loan provider located in Phnom Penh and the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation has been the trustee in bankruptcy for the bank since Tomato Savings Bank went bankrupt in 2012. The corporation has conducted negotiations for the sale of the bank since December last year with the consortium of KB Kookmin Card and Indochina Bank in which the former has a 90% stake.
“This is our first overseas market penetration since President Lee Dong-chul took office and we are expecting that this will accelerate the expansion of our business in Southeast Asia as a whole,” said KB Kookmin Card.
According to KB Kookmin Card, the Tomato Specialized Bank is planned to be in charge of installment financing regarding vehicles to be supplied by KOLAO Group and the acquisition is expected to result in a high level of profitability with Cambodian financial companies’ credit business showing an average annual growth of 30%. KB Kookmin Card is going to run installment financing for automobile customers and credit loans first before debit card, credit card, etc. The Tomato Specialized Bank will be officially opened in June or later.