Woori Bank’s Indonesian subsidiary Bank Woori Saudara (BWS) has gained upgrade by the country`s financial watchdog Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK), paving the way for expanded lending and other financial services.

According to BWS on Sunday, the bank was ungraded to a ‘BUKU3’ rating late last week by the Indonesian Financial Supervisory Service as the bank raised its capital base to 5.2 trillion rupiahs, or approximately 413 billion won ($374.26 million) as of December last year. The rating is the second-highest in OJK’s four-tier bank capital classification by size of paid-in capital.

The bank can now scale up to a medium- and- large lender in Indonesia.

BWS was established in 2014, when Bank Woori Indonesia, an Indonesian subsidiary of Woori Bank, merged with the local lender Bank Saudara to advance into the Southeast Asian market. It currently operates more than 153 branch offices in the country.

By Moon Il-ho and Lee Soo-min

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