이 기사는 2021년 09월 30일 08:07 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Domestic lenders are struggling to cope with deteriorating performance in Myanmar amid ongoing brutal military coup there along with the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic.

KB Microfinance Myanmar recorded a net loss of 3.8 billion won ($3.21 million) in the first half of this year, according to industry sources on Tuesday. The firm swung to a net loss one year after it posted a 300 million won net profit in 2020. Its total assets shrunk from 36.1 billion won at the end of last year to 23 billion won as of the end of June this year.

KB Kookmin Bank has pursued a two-track strategy, in which it targets developing and developed markets, to improve its performance in the global markets. The lender established KB Bank Myanmar to strengthen its presence in the country and expanded branches of KB Microfinance Myanmar to Hinthada and Thangu.

KB Bank Myanmar is also limiting its operations to essential businesses as the Myanmar’s army declared a state of emergency immediately after its opening. KB Kookmin Bank's Myanmar operation had 1.6 billion won of net loss during the first half of this year, narrowing the bank’s operating profit in the country from 3.2 billion won to 2.8 billion won in one year.

Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) established IBKC Myanmar in February 2016, which focuses on the microfinance business. IBKC Myanmar, which generated about 5.7 million won of net profit in the first half of 2020, swung to a net loss of 1.1 billion won during the first six months of this year.

IBK Bank Myanmar, which started its business in January, generated an operating profit of less than 500 million won, with a net profit of 1.7 billion won.

Myanmar’s central bank has issued licenses to 20 foreign banks since it opened its market in 2014. Four Korean lenders entered the country, with KB Kookmin Bank and IBK having subsidiaries in the country while Korea Development Bank and Shinhan Bank operating branches there.

Woori Bank also established its microfinance subsidiary, Woori Finance Myanmar, in the country’s largest city of Yangon at the end of 2015. The firm recorded a net profit of 1.9 billion won in the first half of 2020, but posted around 200 million won of net loss during the first six months of this year. Its asset also decreased from 35.3 billion won at the end of 2020 to 33.6 billion won in just six months.

Hana Bank established Hana Microfinance in 2014. The lender owned 99.9% stake in the microfinance institution at that time, but recently handed over its stake to Hana Capital.

DGB Microfinance Myanmar, which was established in 2019 by Daegu Bank, has weathered the crisis relatively well, narrowing its net loss to 79 million won in the first half of this year from 263 million won in same period of last year. Its assets decreased from 11.1 billion won at the end of last year to 9.6 billion won at the end of June this year.

The World Bank Group expected the Myanmar’s economy to contract around 18% in 2021 Fiscal Year (Oct 2020-Sep 2021), citing its ongoing political turmoil and a rapidly-rising third wave of Covid-19 cases are severely impacting an economy that had already been weakened by the pandemic in 2020. (Reporting by Jang-jun Lee)