********************************************************
The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced today (May 15) that the Monetary Authority has upgraded Industrial Bank of Koreaˇ¦s (IBK) restricted banking licence to a banking licence under the Banking Ordinance. The upgrade took effect on May 14, 2008.
IBK is incorporated in Korea and has operated a branch in Hong Kong under a restricted banking licence since November 1993. According to the July 2007 issue of The Banker, IBK is the 6th largest bank in Korea and the 136 largest bank in the world in terms of total assets.
After the upgrade of IBK, the number of licensed banks in Hong Kong has increased to 144.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Peggy Lo, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687
Ends/Thursday, May 15, 2008
Issued at HKT 17:00
NNNN
