Woori Bank Issues $600 Million Foreign Currency Senior Bonds... "Record-Low Spread"

Securing a Benchmark for Independent Overseas Funding

Woori Bank announced on January 21 that it has successfully issued $600 million (approximately 887.58 billion KRW) in foreign currency senior unsecured bonds.

This issuance marks the first public offering of foreign currency bonds by a commercial bank in Korea this year. It was conducted using a dual-tranche structure, combining a 3-year floating rate tranche and a 5-year fixed rate tranche. The coupon rates were set at SOFR+48bps for the 3-year tranche and 5-year U.S. Treasury+33bps for the 5-year tranche. Both tranches achieved the lowest-ever spreads (credit margins) for a Korean commercial bank.

Woori Bank visited North America and Europe in November last year, and held investor roadshows in Asian capital markets such as Singapore and Hong Kong earlier this month, just before the issuance. The bank cited improved capital ratios and net interest margin (NIM) through asset rebalancing, as well as proactive asset quality management (including reductions in non-performing loans and delinquency rates), as key factors behind the strong demand.

A Woori Bank representative stated, "This successful issuance reaffirms global market confidence in our dramatically improved financial performance, including asset rebalancing." The representative added, "This issuance is particularly significant as it expands our foreign currency funding approach, which has previously been handled exclusively by the head office, and lays the foundation for overseas branches to independently issue bonds in the future. The competitive pricing we secured will serve as a valuable benchmark for overseas branches in London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and Singapore to efficiently manage funds in line with local market conditions."