Hana Financial mulls overseas bank takeovers

SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- Hana Financial Group Inc. is considering acquiring overseas lenders amid growing views the No. 4 banking group's plan to buy Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) may fall apart due to regulatory hurdles, industry sources said Wednesday. Earlier this month, South Korea's financial watchdog postponed its decision on whether Lone Star Funds is eligible to be KEB's biggest shareholder and delayed granting permission to Hana Financial regarding its acquisition of the fifth-largest lender. Lone Star struck a deal with Hana Financial last November to sell its 51.02 percent stake in KEB. According to the sources, Hana Financial may move to grow larger by acquiring lenders in countries including Indonesia and the United States. "Hana Financial does not have a branch in the western U.S. We have been stepping up efforts to expand into this region," said a high-ranking official at Hana Financial. "We are also looking into buying a mid-size bank in Indonesia." The remarks come after Hana Financial Chairman Kim Seung-yu told reporters last week that the banking group was planning to acquire overseas banks, including those in the U.S., after completing the KEB deal. Kim had also said that Hana Financial will push to expand overseas regardless of the KEB takeover. In 2008, Hana Financial attempted to buy a 37.5 percent stake in Commonwealth Business Bank, a Los Angeles-based Korean-American lender. The move, however, failed after U.S. officials refused to give regulatory permission. As of March, Hana Financial had two subsidiaries, one each in China and Indonesia. It also had seven overseas branches and offices in countries such as Japan and Singapore.