With the mass entrance of foreign financial companies in the center of Seoul, a "mini-Wall Street" has sprung up to rival downtown Manhattan's financial powerhouse.
In the Seoul Finance Building in Taepyeong-no, the Yeongpung Building in Seorin-dong and Hanwha Building in Sogong-dong, some 20 foreign banks, brokerage houses and asset management firms are concentrated, making sport of the local financial market.
In the palm of their hand is the local M&A market, estimated to reach W40 trillion (US$40 billion) this year, and the foreign stock investment market, which should reach W25 trillion.
In the Seoul Finance Center, which opened its doors in late 2000, there are seven overseas financial firms, including Fidelity Investments, the world's largest asset management company with over US$1 trillion in managed assets. "Trillions of won pass in and out of the Finance Building in just one day," Fidelity official Choi Gi-hoon said.
In Seorin-dong's Yeongpung Building too, eight foreign financial companies make their own little town, including UBS Securities. In the Hanwha Building behind the Seoul Plaza Hotel, five overseas financial firms have set up shop, including Australia’s Macquarie-IMM Investment Management. Several others have their offices near Gwanghwamun, including Merrill Lynch in the Gwanghwamun Building and Goldman Sachs in the Hungkuk Life Insurance Building.
The insides of the offices of most of these firms are well arranged for an independent work environment. With the exception of some trading rooms, where teamwork and prompt deliberations are important, most offices are given to personal space where people can work without distracting eye contact from other people.
The firms have set up shop in downtown Seoul rather than Yeouido or Gangnam because their primary business partners -- the headquarters of major corporations and the Central Government Complex -- are concentrated there. They came in around the time of the Asian financial crisis of 1997. "This was because the corporate M&A market rapidly expanded, and the fund-centered asset management market grew enormously," Ahn Seung-won of UBS said.
Leases at the Finance Building are skyrocketing. "Leases are decided through negotiations with individual firms," a Finance Building official said. "With overseas financial firms, which are not greatly concerned with lease levels flooding in, prices have gone up."
The scenery, too, has changed greatly. Workers more often substitute a sandwich and coffee for normal breakfasts early in the morning. In the Au Bon Pain sandwich shop in Seorin-dong, sharply dressed men and women stand in line to buy coffee and pastries from 7:30 a.m. Lee Seung-hyeon, the manager of Au Bon Pain's Gwanghwamun branch, said, "Since we opened in January 2003, the place has been full every weekday morning."
Another change is sartorial. "The particular fashion style of the foreign financial company employees, who like to wear tailored dress shirts with their initials on them, has become quite popular in the Gwanghwamun area," says Gu Yeong-gyeong, who works there.
