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| Woori Bank's headquarters in Seoul / Yonhap |
By Lee Min-hyung
Woori Bank has joined the race to attract customers from Citibank Korea's retail banking, launching a loan repayment product targeting those who seek to transfer their loans from Citi to another lender.
With Citibank Korea's retail banking business here going through a phased shutdown, the lender picked KB Kookmin Bank and internet-only Toss Bank recently as two major partners for its existing debtors to smoothly transfer their loan repayments.
But Citibank's retail customers can also do so by using other lenders. Woori Bank has joined the race to attract Citi customers, whose combined loans are valued at around 8 trillion won ($6.1 billion).
According to Woori, the lender plans to launch a special loan repayment product on July 1 with a preferential interest rate benefit of up to 1.5 percentage points to Citi customers.
Citibank Korea's retail customers who have taken out non-collateralized loans can sign up for the product from Woori. The bank said Citi customers will be able to transfer their loans to Woori with interest rates as lows as the 3 percent range. Woori Bank also offers a special interest benefit of 1 percentage point to those who have not received any loans from Woori.
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| The headquarters of Woori Bank in central Seoul / Korea Times file |
The credit line for the product is 300 million won per customer, according to Woori Bank. Potential customers can apply for the product at Woori's sales offices or through its mobile banking apps.
"We are coming up with various measures for Citibank's retail customers to transfer their loans to Woori, and we will also make a return for them with competitive non-collateralized loan products and customer services," the lender said.
Woori is not the only lender to join the race. Shinhan Bank, one of the major commercial lenders here along with KB, Hana and Woori, is also scheduled to launch a similar product sometime in July by offering a series of benefits in commission and interest rates to Citi customers.
Woori Bank has already recruited 13 private bankers from Citibank, with a view to attracting Citi customers with high assets.
