□ On June 7th, Korea Eximbank (www.koreaexim.go.kr, President Dongsoo Kim) announced issuance of a $270 million Formosa bond* in Taipei and became the first Asian institution to do so.

□ The Formosa bond issued by Korea Eximbank is a dollar denominated bond with a maturity of 3 years and 6 months and a fixed interest rate. The bond was issued at a rate of 2.65%, which is 20~30bp lower than bond issuance in US dollar markets.
* Formosa bond: a non-Taiwanese dollar-denominated bond issued by a foreign institution in Taiwan' capital market. Formosa is another name for the island of Taiwan.

□ Originally, Taiwan strictly limits issuance of the Formosa bond to top ranking enterprises such as international financial institutions. However, after 6 months of consultations with the Taiwanese finance authority, Korea Eximbank was able to become the first Asian institution to issue the Formosa bond.

□ The successful entry of Korea Eximbank into Taiwan's bond market as the first Asian institution and the bank's issuance of a dollar denominated bond at lower rates than that of G3 markets (US, EU, Japan), despite unfavorable conditions such as the North Korean incident with the Cheonan naval battleship and the fiscal crisis in the EU, reconfirmed once again Korea Eximbank's status as the leading financial institution in Korea.

□ According to a representative of Korea Eximbank, "This issuance of the Formosa bond has established a foundation for regular issuance in the Taiwanese market which has high dollar liquidity. Korea Eximbank will continue efforts to reduce borrowing costs and expand sources for borrowing by utilizing niche markets such as Taiwan's bond market which are relatively less affected by the international financial market."

* In 2010, Korea Eximbank raised a total of US$1.1 billion in non-US dollar denominated niche markets such as Brazil and Malaysia.

□ Korea Eximbank plans to utilize the funds raised to assist Korean institutions secure overseas projects and natural resource development projects.