Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- JB Financial, a provincial banking group in South Korea, has made a fresh launch of its Vietnamese brokerage subsidiary under a new name, underlining efforts to broaden its presence in Southeast Asia. The subsidiary in Hanoi was reborn as JB Securities Vietnam (JBSV) that will focus on linking domestic and foreign investors by discovering promising investment opportunities such as real estate development.

JBSV is a securities company formerly known as Morgan Stanley Gateway Securities acquired by Kwangju Bank, a unit of JB Financial, in April this year. JB Financial, based in Jeonju, said that it has obtained approval from Vietnamese regulators to change its name and has completed all approval procedures required to start operations.

"To diversify our group's revenue resources, we will focus on investment banking in Vietnam where growth potential is high," said JBSV's new CEO Kim Doo-yoon. "At the same time, we will serve as an advance guard for JB Financial in the Vietnamese market by providing investment opportunities for group affiliates."

The newly-launched brokerage firm will provide investment banking such as underwriting convertible bonds, bonds with warrants and corporate bonds for Vietnamese companies as well as merger and acquisition opportunities.

JB Financial has carried out lucrative M&A deals in Southeast Asia by acquiring stakes in Phnom Penh Commercial Bank and JB Capital Myanmar. The group posted a record-high net profit of 342 billion won ($289 million) in 2019.