Northern Trust has opened a representative office in Seoul, South Korea, supporting its continued expansion across Asia-Pacific. 

This follows the approval of the representative office application by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) in September 2014.

“The opening of our Seoul representative office supports the continuing expansion of our solutions to institutional clients in South Korea, building upon and strengthening our longstanding relationships,” Northern Trust Chairman and chief executive officer Frederick H Waddell said. 

“South Korea is one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Having a local presence in this dynamic market is also part of our strategy of supporting our clients as close to their home market as possible, as well as being part of the local business community.”

Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing global region for Northern Trust, with assets under custody growing at an annual rate of 13% from 2009 through 2014. In November last year, Northern Trust announced it had opened an office in Manila, the Philippines, following an announcement earlier in 2014 that it had opened a representative office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“We are pleased to continue to expand our footprint across Asia-Pacific,” said William Mak, head of Asia-Pacific for Northern Trust. “We have seen significant growth in the region in recent years in terms of assets and new clients, as well as expanding our products, capabilities and staff to support sophisticated investors in the region.”

Northern Trust has nine locations across Asia-Pacific – in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and South Korea.