New estimates released by Korean, Shinhan Bank, put the size of the Korean private banking market at $150 billion at the end of 2003, and gr...

New estimates released by Korean, Shinhan Bank, put the size of the Korean private banking market at $150 billion at the end of 2003, and growing at a compound 10 per cent annually. Boston Consulting Group estimates that financial assets held by wealthy Koreans will balloon to around KRW290 trillion ($265 billion) by 2005. The rapid growth of local wealth management will be the initial stepping stone for the new Citibank Korea, launched at the beginning of November, according to officials. This new operation is the result of the US banking giant's $2.7 billion acquisition of KorAm Bank last April, marking the first foreign banking takeover in Korea.