Citibank Korea, Inc. expands its business into Korea’s domestic ABS market

SEOUL--(Korea Newswire)--The strong market player in the cross-border Asset Backed Securities (‘ABS’) market, Citibank Korea, Inc. (‘Citibank Korea’)(Yung Ku Ha, CEO of Citibank Korea) spoke up on Nov 20 that they would expand their business capabilities into Korea’s domestic ABS market.

Starting Agency & Trust business engaged in ABS transactions since Oct 1998, Citibank Korea has actively provided Korean clients including auto-loan companies, credit card companies and local banks with trustee and SPC administration services in the course of their ABS issuances.

In particular, as Citibank Korea has been almost 100% involved in the cross-border ABS issued by Korea clients since 2009, it is expected that Korean domestic capital market will pay attention to this official release that Citibank Korea will expand their service capabilities into Korea’s domestic ABS market.

In fact, Citibank Korea has been widely known in the structured market that it was one of the first banks involved in the ABS market and keeps professional human resources that have in-depth working experience and product specialties on a variety of financing structures and underlying assets securitized and at the same time it has always provided one-stop on and offshore services through Citi’s global network.

In the meantime, Citibank Korea has been relatively dormant in Korea’s domestic ABS market as compared to the cross-border ABS market although it’s been mandated for some domestic ABS deals for which credit enhancement was frequently provided in the form of overcollateralization.

Byung-Chul Ban, the Trust Business Head of Citibank Korea, said “We have reached out to the agreement with one of local banks who will provide credit line for the credit enhancement. With this, going forward, we will actively join and fully support all the domestic ABS transactions in order for Korean issuers to finance in more stable and diversified ways. Eventually, I am of the view that these efforts will be able to help result in us contributing more to the development of the domestic capital market.

Financing about U$1.0BN from cross-border ABS issuances on a yearly basis, which has been supported by Citibank Korea’s Agency & Trust business, a source from one of the largest card companies in Korea foresaw “Citibank Korea has maintained the highest level of market reputation due to their exceptional service capabilities and we see they will help secure stability and creditability of the domestic ABS in the structured market if Citibank Korea starts more actively entering into Korea’s domestic ABS market by providing trustee and administration services in the domestic ABS issuance.

A source from Citibank Korea said “Investors recently raised concerns on the rating credibility of domestic corporate bonds and commercial papers but ABS is known as a safe investment in the capital market because it’s collateralized with cash flows exceeding 100% of ABS issue amount. It’s expected that stable financing for local financial institutions and corporations will be more revitalized through Citibank Korea’s active market participation in the future.”

Citibank Korea Inc.
Citibank had opened its first branch in Korea in 1967, and was born newly as Citibank Korea Inc. (CKI) through integration with KorAm Bank in 2004. CKI serves customers at 196 branches (as of end of Sep 2013) in Korea by providing the first class financial products and services based on the various products and know-how of Citi with global network including more than 200 years of history and 200 million customers in more than 160 countries. CKI delivers new financial world to the customers through development of innovative financial products and services, encompassing from corporate and investment banking to consumer banking, private banking, and wealth management. Furthermore, Citibank Korea Inc., as a responsible corporate citizen, conducts diverse community activities in the areas of financial education, next generation education, woman, diversity, community, and environment consistently in corporation with sound non-profit organizations.

Website: http://www.citibank.co.kr

This is a news release distributed by Korea Newswire on behalf of this company.