Major Korean banks are planning to expand their coverage beyond domestic borders to include some of the fastest growing countries in Asia-Pacific, Korea Herald reports.

Kookmin Bank, the largest bank in South Korea, is reportedly set to open branches in China and Osaka, Japan this year. The company also currently negotiating to open a representative office in Mumbai.

Woori Bank, the banking arm of Woori Financial Group, also announced plans to open more branches in China in 2012, shortly after it launched its 13th office in Beijing in a bid to service more high net worth clients. To date, Woori has around 50 offices in 15 countries. The bank is also planning to set up branches in India and Bangladesh. 

Shinhan Bank, one of the oldest banks in the country, is currently negotiating a takeover of a small Indonesian bank based in Surabaya. The identity of the target bank has not been revealed but earlier reports state that it has around $89.5 million in assets. Shinhan also has existing operations in Cambodia, China and Kazahkstan.

Hana Bank, the commercial bank, is expanding in Indonesia where it already has 17 branches through local subsidiary PT Bank Hana. The company is also planning to widen its China presence, where to-date it manages total assets of $1 billion. 

According to recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, titled "Banking in 2050: How Big Will The Emerging Markets Get?" the banking sector will be more geared toward emerging markets by 2050, with China's total domestic credit forecast to overtake that of the UK and Germany in 2010, Japan by 2025 and the US before 2050. (See report here.)