India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has opened its first branch in South Korea. The Seoul branch is expected to play an important role in strengthening economic partnership between the two nations, the bank’s Managing Director B Sriram said in a statement. With over 135 branches across many geographies, SBI has the largest presence in foreign markets among domestic banks. The branch will offer a range of services to corporates in trade finance, bilateral and syndicated loans and corporate deposits etc, apart from retail banking.

SBI’s decision to open a branch in Seoul follows from the continuous and significant increase in trade following the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which was signed between New Delhi and Seoul in 2009.

 Did You Know??? 

• State Bank of India is one of the Big Four banks of India, along with Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and ICICI Bank.
• The bank traces its ancestry to British India, through the Imperial Bank of India, to the founding, in 1806, of the Bank of Calcutta, making it the oldest commercial bank in the Indian Subcontinent.
• State Bank of India is a regional banking behemoth and has 20% market share in deposits and loans among Indian commercial banks
• On October 7, 2013, Arundhati Bhattacharya became the first woman to be appointed Chairperson of the bank