Last Year, Sae Himang Holssi Supplied 37 Trillion Won... Exceeding Supply Target by 400 Billion Won

Supply Target of 3.4 Trillion This Year... Increased by 100 Billion Compared to Last Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced on the 9th that the Saehee Hope Loan amount in the banking sector last year was 3.7563 trillion KRW, an increase of 95.1 billion KRW (2.6%) compared to the previous year. This exceeded the supply target of 3.3 trillion KRW by 113.8%.

The Saehee Hope Loan is a banking sector financial product for low-income people, lending up to 30 million KRW at an interest rate of up to 10.5% per year to those with an annual income of 35 million KRW or less, or those with a credit rating of 6 or lower and an annual income of 45 million KRW or less.

Although the growth rate slowed somewhat compared to the previous year, the FSS explained that the supply target has been sharply raised since 2016, and the target was exceeded for two consecutive years.

By bank, Shinhan Bank supplied 637 billion KRW, Woori Bank 616 billion KRW, KB Kookmin Bank 577.9 billion KRW, Hana Bank 550.5 billion KRW, and NH Nonghyup Bank 534.6 billion KRW. The performance of these five banks (2.9 trillion KRW) accounted for 77.6% of the total.

The average interest rate of Saehee Hope Loans last year was 7.01%. It decreased from 7.85% in 2017 to 7.61% in 2018, and the downward trend continued last year.

As of the end of last year, the delinquency rate of Saehee Hope Loans was 2.23%, down 0.35 percentage points from the previous year. The FSS evaluated that the product is faithfully fulfilling its role as a support product for low-income people without placing a significant burden on the banks' soundness.

The FSS set this year's Saehee Hope Loan supply target at 3.4 trillion KRW, an increase of 100 billion KRW from the previous year.

An FSS official said, "We will actively encourage the smooth supply of Saehee Hope Loans to low-income and vulnerable groups facing economic difficulties due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and prioritize funding to small business owners struggling with decreased sales."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.