[2020 National Audit] Heads of KDB and KEXIM "Will Actively Implement Policy Finance"

Yoon Dae-hee, Chairman of the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, is taking the oath as a witness at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee hearing on the 16th, which included a state audit of the Korea Development Bank and others. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] The heads of two policy banks, Korea Development Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea, pledged on the 16th to actively fulfill their roles as proactive policy financial institutions. This was in response to a demand from Yoon Kwan-seok, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea (Chairman of the Political Affairs Committee), for the policy financial institutions to perform their fundamental roles.

On that day, Chairman Yoon emphasized to Lee Dong-geol, Chairman of Korea Development Bank, "There were many concerns and requests from political committee members this morning regarding the situation where Korea Development Bank has been assigned many roles related to the policy-type New Deal Fund. Since a fund is an investment, losses and gains can occur, but (all the more) investment principles must be upheld, and especially, numerical target matching or short-term performance orientation should be avoided." He continued, "The New Deal Fund should be faithfully utilized as a long-term investment catalyst to overcome COVID-19 and prepare the nation's future in the post-COVID era, regardless of political factions."

In response, Chairman Lee said, "I believe this is a nationally important task," and added, "We will concentrate our capabilities and make every effort to achieve national economic outcomes while ensuring that losses do not occur and the project is completed successfully."

Chairman Yoon also pointed out that Industrial Bank of Korea is a special bank specialized in supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with the state as the largest shareholder, and urged CEO Yoon Jong-won of Industrial Bank of Korea to consider playing a more active role than commercial banks in providing financial support such as unsecured loans to SMEs with weak collateral or financial status.

In response, CEO Yoon said, "This year, guaranteed loans based on government credit guarantees to support companies related to COVID-19 have increased significantly, which is interpreted as a reduction in the proportion of unsecured loans," and added, "We will cooperate with other companies and public institutions to expand co-growth cooperation loans and strive to expand financial opportunities for companies with weak credit."

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