Financial Authorities "Selecting 1,000 Innovative Companies Over 3 Years for Technology-Centered Financial Support"

Sequential Selection in Fields like Digital, New Deal, and New Business
Loan Limit Expansion, Technology-Centered Evaluation Policies
"Contributing to Fundamental Innovation in Economy and Industry"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] Financial authorities have decided to select and provide focused support to more than 1,000 innovative companies in fields such as digital and new industries over the next three years.

The Financial Services Commission announced on the 30th that it finalized this plan at the Emergency Economic Central Countermeasures Headquarters meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki.

The financial authorities plan to select innovative companies centered on industrial sectors such as digital and green new deals, future cars, bio, system semiconductors, and materials, parts, and equipment.

Additionally, companies restructuring their businesses into new industries and those with overseas business know-how returning to Korea with high innovation will also be selected and supported.

Through collaboration with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the financial authorities plan to select 200 companies within this year and sequentially select 200 companies every half-year until the end of 2022, totaling 1,000 companies.

The financial authorities stated that comprehensive financial support will be provided to the selected companies by utilizing about 40 trillion won of existing policy fund capacity.

To this end, they plan to expand loan and guarantee limits from national policy banks for the target companies and exclude the application of total credit limits for specific industrial sectors. Benefits such as interest rate reductions will also be granted considering technological factors.

Companies selected as innovative will be regarded as having their innovation and technological capabilities somewhat verified, and financial support will be provided as much as possible even if their financial condition is somewhat poor, according to the financial authorities.

Furthermore, for innovative companies with poor financial conditions or low credit ratings, the financial authorities plan to actively support necessary know-how in management and financial control and also actively provide business infrastructure support for overseas market development.

The financial authorities also decided to assist in attracting private investment funds by connecting more than 30 companies annually with domestic and international venture capital (VC) cooperation channels and investment briefing sessions.

A financial authority official said, "By complementing fiscal expansion under the 'Korean New Deal' and actively providing financial support to innovative companies in sectors such as digital and green new deals, we expect to contribute to structural and fundamental innovation in our economy and industry."

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