Shinhan Financial Group is signing a series of agreements with government and state-owned financial institutions in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to expand its Central Asia financial network.

Shinhan Financial said on Sept. 17 it signed agreements on Sept. 14 to 15 to strengthen financial cooperation with Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade and Kazakhstan’s state development finance group Baiterek.

With Uzbekistan, it will flesh out funding support for local financial institutions and the identification of investment projects. Shinhan Financial and the Uzbek ministry will push to set a funding support limit of up to $200 million for local financial institutions. They also agreed to discuss jointly identifying local investment projects and ways to participate in project financing in infrastructure and renewable energy.

After signing the cooperation agreement, Jin Ok-dong (진옥동), chairman of Shinhan Financial, separately met Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who is visiting South Korea, and discussed the development of the local financial industry and plans to expand Shinhan Financial’s business.

In Kazakhstan, Shinhan Financial will work with state development finance group Baiterek to strengthen financial cooperation. Shinhan Financial signed a memorandum of understanding with Baiterek at a Korea-Kazakhstan business roundtable.

The two sides agreed to share information on Kazakhstan’s financial market and Shinhan Financial’s financial know-how through job training, study visits, and seminars and workshops. They will also pursue financial support measures for Kazakhstan’s industrial and infrastructure development projects and for South Korean companies operating locally.

Jin said, "Using the cooperation agreement with Uzbekistan as a turning point, we will make investment and procurement cooperation more concrete and support mutual growth of the financial industry," adding, "We will also expand exchanges of financial know-how with Kazakhstan and broaden support for infrastructure and corporate finance."