Financial Services Commission to Select Additional 200 Companies for 'Innovative Enterprise National Representatives 1000' in April

More than 400 Companies to Be Added Within This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] The Financial Services Commission (FSC) will select an additional 200 companies for the 'Innovative Companies National Representative 1000' in April to support the securing of new growth engines for our economy.

According to the FSC on the 8th, at the first meeting of the Policy and Global Finance Subcommittee of the Financial Development Council held on the 4th, the following were discussed: ▲ Policy and Global Finance Subcommittee matters in the 2021 FSC work plan ▲ Progress and future plans for the 'Innovative Companies National Representative 1000' initiative ▲ International trends in ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) and domestic implications.

The FSC announced that to continuously discover 'Innovative Companies National Representative 1000,' it has currently selected 279 companies and plans to select up to 400 or more additional companies within this year. It will also encourage private investment by providing excess profit incentives to asset management companies that invest a certain percentage or more in the selected companies.

The program 'Innovative Companies National Representative 1000,' developed through active collaboration between the financial and industrial sectors, involves the respective supervising ministries recommending and selecting highly innovative companies based on selection criteria and procedures tailored to the characteristics of each industrial sector. Among the selected companies, those with financial needs are reviewed for company size and financial demand to provide customized support.

So far, a total of 279 representative innovative companies have been selected in two rounds (July and November last year), and among them, 90 companies with funding needs have received a total of 178 cases of loans, guarantees, and investment support amounting to 1.0752 trillion KRW. Promising venture companies with high potential to grow into global players were also given investment opportunities through the 'KDB NextRound Special Session.'

The FSC plans to discover more than 200 innovative companies every half-year and select a total of over 1,000 representative innovative companies by 2022. Previously, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries participated in the selection process. However, from the first half of this year, the selection agencies will diversify to include the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Environment, and Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to discover innovative companies in various fields such as content and smart farms.

For the selected companies, in addition to existing policy financing, active support will be provided to attract private funds. Opportunities for large-scale fundraising will be supported by organizing domestic and international investor briefings and networking opportunities between the financial investment industry, venture investment industry, and innovative companies. Incentives will also be given when operating policy funds such as New Deal funds to encourage active investment in the selected innovative companies.

Meanwhile, the meeting also discussed plans to expand the driving force for the Korean New Deal through policy-type New Deal funds and New Deal finance. A sub-fund of the policy-type New Deal fund will be established with a target of up to 4 trillion KRW this year, and a public participation private fund with a target of 140 billion KRW will be created to allow the general public to share in the performance. New Deal finance worth 17.5 trillion KRW will be supported within this year, and promotion to encourage private financial participation, such as business briefings, will be strengthened.

Green finance will also be activated to transition to an eco-friendly and low-carbon economy.

The proportion of policy finance support for the green sector will be expanded from 6.5% in 2019 to 13% by 2030, and the establishment of a green classification system will be reviewed to create specialized green loan and guarantee programs.

Additionally, this year, institutional support will be provided for the financial sector’s voluntary response to climate change. To prepare for the trend of 'strengthening ESG standards,' which is expected to become a global norm, the government, companies, investors, and financial institutions will be able to respond systematically. A green finance guideline for the financial sector will be prepared in the first half of the year, and in the fourth quarter, measures to strengthen environmental-related fiduciary responsibilities will be reviewed.

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