The Federal Reserve Board has approved Hana Financial Group Inc.'s acquisition of indirect controlling interests in two U.S. units of Korea Exchange Bank.
Hana Financial, of Seoul, South Korea, is buying interests in KEB NY Financial Corp. in New York and KEB LA Financial Corp. in Los Angeles as part of its deal to purchase a controlling interest in Korea Exchange Bank. Korea Exchange is a $92 billion-asset commercial bank based in Seoul.
KEB NY and KEB LA have combined U.S. assets of $626 million.
As a result of the deal, the $157.1 billion-asset Hana Financial would be able to broker and service loans and other forms of credit in the United States.
The Fed said on Wednesday in its approval that it had determined that the deal was not likely to have adverse effects such as undue concentration of resources, decreased or unfair competition, conflicts of interests or pose a significant risk to the stability of the U.S. banking system.
