국민은행 해외진출 "대우사태 반복 우려"

[edaily 하정민기자] 최근 인도네시아 BII은행을 인수하며 공격적인 해외진출 정책을 펴고있는 김정태 국민은행(060000)장의 야망이 과거 대우그룹의 무모한 해외 확장전략을 연상시킨다는 지적이 나왔다. 영국 파이낸셜타임즈(FT)는 3일 많은 투자자들이 국민은행의 해외 진출에 의구심을 가지고있으며 김정태 행장의 전략에 비판적이라고 보도했다. 김정태 행장은 최근 "향후 매년 1~2개의 아시아 지역 은행을 추가로 인수해 아시아 전역에서 영업활동을 하는 은행으로 성장하겠다"는 포부를 밝힌 바 있다. 그러나 그의 비판자들은 이같은 팬 아시아(Pan-asia) 전략에 대해 "국민은행은 부실여신 등 국내에서도 문제가 많은데 왜 해외진출을 하는지 모르겠다"고 의구심을 표명하고 있다고 FT는 전했다. 특히 이들은 인도네시아가 영업활동을 하기에 매우 어려운 시장이며 국민은행은 해외영업 경험도 없다는 점을 문제삼고있다. FT는 지난 2001년 많은 은행원들의 반대를 무릅쓰고 통합 국민은행장이 된 김정태 행장의 처음 1년은 비교적 성공적이었지만 이는 대부분 소비자 대출의 빠른 증가에 기인한 것이라고 평가했다. 또 해외투자자들에게는 투명성 제고 노력 및 위기관리 능력에 대한 호평을 받았지만 신용거품 붕괴로 국민은행이 큰 어려움을 겪으면서 찬사가 빛이 바랬다고 덧붙였다. 그러나 이같은 비판에도 불구하고 김정태 행장은 해외진출 계획에 변함이 없다는 입장을 고수하고 있다. FT는 김 행장이 "국내 영업만으로 더이상의 성장을 할 수는 없다"며 "국민은행은 해외로 나가야한다"는 뜻을 거듭 피력하고 있다고 전했다. 다음은 FT 기사 원문. "Kookmin attempts to spread its wings" South Korea’s biggest lender says it must look to grow overseas because domestic opportunities for growth are limited, reports Andrew Ward Kim Jung-tae points at Asia on a map of the world on his office wall. "We"re open to opportunities throughout the region," says the chief executive of Kookmin Bank. "India, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Japan, China. The only question is where the opportunities emerge first." Mr Kim is not content with Kookmin"s status as South Korea"s largest lender, with total assets of Won190,190bn ($159bn). "There will be three to five leading regional banks in the medium to long term and Kookmin would like to be one of them," he says. Kookmin launched its Asian expansion drive in October, when it signed a preliminary deal to take control of Bank International Indonesia (BII) in a consortium with Singapore"s Temasek Holdings. Mr Kim expects the acquisition to be completed by early next year and plans to send Kookmin managers to run the Jakarta-based lender. In his monthly address to staff on Monday, Mr Kim reportedly said Kookmin would make further overseas acquisitions at a rate of one or two a year. However, talking to the FT, he is more restrained. "It will be a step by step, slow process," he says. Temasek could be a partner in other deals beyond Indonesia, says Mr Kim, and so too could ING, the Dutch financial group, which owns 4 per cent of Kookmin. "Nothing is decided, nothing is imminent except BII, but all options are open," he says. If Mr Kim"s regional ambitions become reality, it would complete Kookmin"s remarkable transformation from a relatively small retail lender into South Korea"s first truly international bank in the space of a decade - and reinforce Mr Kim"s status as the country"s star banker. When Kookmin merged with Housing & Commercial to become South Korea"s dominant lender in 2001, Mr Kim, previously the president of H&C, was chosen to run the enlarged bank. The appointment angered Kookmin workers, who wanted one of their own at the helm, but delighted investors because of Mr Kim"s reputation for embracing international standards of transparency and risk control. Mr Kim"s first year in control of Kookmin exceeded expectations as the bank benefited from rapid growth in consumer borrowing as South Koreans, once among the world"s biggest savers, discovered the joys of credit. The surge in retail lending drove Kookmin to net profits of Won1,310bn in 2002. This year, however, has seen a dramatic reversal of fortune as South Korea"s consumption boom has been exposed as a bubble, leaving households buried in debts and lenders mired in non-performing loans. As the country"s most retail-focused bank, Kookmin was particularly exposed to the credit-crunch, losing Won382bn in the first nine months of this year. Consumer lending was supposed to provide a safe and profitable new line of business for South Korean banks as they recovered from the country"s 1997 financial crisis. Instead, the banks repeated in the household the mistakes they had made in the corporate sector: lending too freely without proper risk controls. Kookmin is now scrambling to rescue its reputation as one of Asia"s best-run banks by taking aggressive steps to clean up its substandard loans, which have risen to nearly 4 per cent of total credit, from 3 per cent last year. In his presentation to employees this week, Mr Kim said Won7,000bn of provisions would be set aside to cover bad assets this year. "It has been a tough year and that will be reflected in our 2003 financial results," he says. "But our plan was to clean up this year, allowing next year to be much better." Many investors have questioned why Kookmin is seeking to expand overseas when it is facing such big problems at home. They warn that Indonesia is a difficult market and point out that Kookmin has no overseas experience. Some critics mutter darkly that Mr Kim"s international ambitions sound reminiscent of the South Korean industrial conglomerates, such as Daewoo, whose reckless global expansion led to their downfall in the late 1990s. However, Mr Kim says Kookmin must go overseas because the opportunities for further growth at home are limited. He has ruled out acquisitions of Koram, Korea First Bank or Korea Exchange Bank, the three Korean lenders so far excluded from consolidation in the sector.