HEAD OF KOREA'S HANA BANK PROMOTES MERGER WITH KOREA FIRST.

AsiaPulse News, April, 2002

SEOUL, April 12 Asia Pulse - Hana Bank president Kim Seung-yu said Friday that his bank and Korea First Bank had been stepping up efforts to merge.

Kim told reporters both banks feel it is urgent to expand banking operation through a merger as the financial environment was still changing rapidly. The merger should materialise by the end of this year at the latest, he added.

Regarding the rumour of a merger announcement late in May, he said that he cannot be sure about the timing since the merger talks involve two parties.

He said bank assets should be at least 100 trillion won (US$75.5 billion) to ensure economies of scale. Even though a Hana-Korea First merger would produce an institution with assets below that target, Kim said, later mergers with...