Eun Seong-su: "Two-Track Approach with Credit Supply to Liquidity-Shortage Firms and Proactive Restructuring"

170 Trillion KRW+α Supplied Over 5 Years... Actively Forming Driving Force for Korean New Deal
Continuous Expansion of Convenient Non-Face-to-Face Financial Infrastructure Including Open Banking Advancement
Encouraging Expansion of Mid-Interest Loans by Private Financial Companies... Finalizing Short Selling System Improvement

Eun Sung-soo, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Eun Sung-soo, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, stated on the 17th, "We will provide sufficient credit to companies experiencing temporary liquidity shortages due to COVID-19, and for companies facing structural difficulties during environmental changes, we will promote a two-track support system that encourages business restructuring and proactive corporate restructuring."

Chairman Eun made these remarks during a report to the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, saying, "We will carefully manage household debt, which has inevitably increased during the COVID-19 response process, so that it does not become a burden on our economy."

He added, "Above all, we will faithfully implement the 175 trillion won + α livelihood and financial stability program to address the difficulties of small business owners and companies. Temporary financial measures such as maturity extensions and repayment deferrals across the entire financial sector will be developed after gathering opinions from the financial and industrial sectors and comprehensively considering the COVID-19 quarantine situation and real economy trends."

Chairman Eun also expressed his determination for the financial sector to actively support the major transition to a leading economy. He said, "Policy finance and the private financial sector have agreed to jointly supply 170 trillion won + α in New Deal finance over the next five years. This year, we aim to raise up to 4 trillion won by establishing sub-funds for the policy-type New Deal fund, and we will separately invest about 18 trillion won in policy funds in the New Deal sector to actively create momentum for the Korean New Deal."

He continued, "We will strengthen policy finance support for the green sector by establishing green-specialized loan and guarantee programs, and we will also build an institutional foundation for revitalizing green finance by reforming the disclosure system to consider ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors."

Chairman Eun also expressed his intention to innovate the financial industry and expand digital finance. He mentioned, "We will strengthen financial and non-financial support for fintech companies, continuously expand convenient and safe non-face-to-face financial infrastructure such as establishing standards for non-face-to-face identity verification and authentication, and advancing open banking."

He added, "Regarding financial services provided by platform companies, we will establish the minimum necessary regulations for user protection and fair competition. However, to ensure that financial innovation using platforms itself is not stifled, we will also pursue balanced support measures such as licensing non-financial credit bureaus (CBs)."

Furthermore, Chairman Eun stated that he will protect financial consumers and investors and support vulnerable groups. He said, "Since the statutory maximum interest rate is scheduled to be lowered from 24% to 20% in the second half of this year, we will expand policy-based financial services for low-income people so that they do not face difficulties in using formal financial services and encourage private financial companies to expand mid-interest loans."

He also promised, "At the Financial Services Commission's extraordinary meeting on the 3rd, it was decided to partially resume short selling on KOSPI 200 and KOSDAQ 150 stocks starting May 3rd. We will ensure that institutional improvements related to this are completed smoothly before the resumption of short selling."

In addition, he concluded, "We will pay special attention to preparing various customized financial support measures for vulnerable groups, such as reducing housing finance costs for youth, preparing for old age for the elderly, and improving financial accessibility for digitally vulnerable groups."

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