KEB Hana Bank said Nov. 11 that it has become the second-largest shareholder of Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, the Southeast Asian country’s largest bank by assets.

South Korea’s third-largest commercial bank said it has agreed to buy 15 percent or 603 million new shares in BIDV from the central bank of Vietnam. The Vietnamese central bank, which was holding 95.28 percent in BIDV, approved KEB Hana’s investment as a strategic investor.

The Korean bank paid 1.01 trillion won ($868 billion) for the stake. 

The bank declared it is kicking off the company’s New South Policy in earnest with the deal. KEB Hana Bank has been focusing on providing services for Korean companies in Vietnam with two branches in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.

Founded in 1957, the bank is one of the top four commercial banks along with Vietcom Bank, Vietin Bank and Agri Bank. Its assets stood at 66.3 trillion won and posted 380.9 billion won net profit last year.

‘I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to grow with BIDV. I hope the two banks can be a financial bridge between Korea and Vietnam by providing advanced financial services,” said Kim Jung-Tai, Chairman & CEO of Hana Financial Group.

BIDV has about 1,000 branhces and 58,000 automated teller machines in the country.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)