Annandale to get another Korean bank

Another new bank is coming to Annandale. Foster Bank, based in Chicago, is opening a branch next to Radio Shack in the Safeway shopping center on Little River Turnpike. It is expected to open in May. A company press release calls the Annandale location “a short 10-minute drive from Washington, D.C.” [Ha!]

Foster Bank was launched in 1989 by a group of Korean-American businessmen who wanted to serve the needs of Korean immigrant community in Chicago, the company reports. In 1992, they acquired the Mayfair Bank, and in 2000 opened a loan production office in Atlanta. Foster has more than $550 million in assets.

The Annandale facility will be Foster’s eighth branch and its first full-service facility outside Illinois. It will have three teller windows, an ATM, walk-up window, night depository, and self-service kiosk. The company expects to hire five to six new employees, including a branch manager, personal bankers, and tellers “who know the local marketplace,” says Paul Byungtag Kim, president and CEO.

Foster Bank selected Annandale because it is the “cultural and commercial heart” of the Washington area’s Korean community. It will become the second Korean bank (after Woori America Bank in the Seoul Plaza on Markham Street) and third Asian bank to open in Annandale in the last eight years.