Eun Sung-soo Visits SMEs: "No Loan Limit or Interest Rate Disadvantages Even if Credit Rating Drops"

Eun Sung-soo, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Eun Seong-su, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said on the 29th, "When banks conduct internal credit evaluations, they need to sufficiently reflect the borrower's recovery potential considering the temporary situation of COVID-19 (to be considered during qualitative evaluation), and even if the credit rating falls, operations should minimize disadvantages in loan limits and interest rates."

Chairman Eun made these remarks after attending the 'Financial Support Center' plaque ceremony held at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul, and holding a meeting with the SME sector. He said, "I understand that there are significant concerns in the SME sector that credit ratings may fall due to the reflection of last year's sales decline, and loan conditions may worsen due to rising interest rates."

Chairman Eun stated, "The government is consulting with the financial sector to alleviate the concerns of the SME sector," and added, "Although companies are experiencing temporary difficulties due to deteriorating business conditions, for those with a high possibility of normalizing business activities in the future, the recovery potential will be sufficiently reflected during credit evaluations."

He also said, "For companies whose credit ratings have inevitably fallen, the impact on loan limits and interest rates will be minimized."

Chairman Eun emphasized that preparations for the post-COVID era will be carried out steadily. He expressed, "Even after the maturity extension and repayment deferral measures end, we will ensure that the borrower's repayment burden does not suddenly accumulate and that a loan cliff situation does not occur," and added, "Through consulting that considers the individual situations of SMEs and small business owners, we will carefully promote a soft landing support system that allows maturity extension and repayment deferral loans to be repaid over the long term and in installments."

He also added, "We will activate movable collateral loans and continuously strengthen financial support for innovative SMEs, including those in the New Deal sectors and the 1000 National Representatives of Innovative Companies."

Chairman Eun concluded by saying, "'There is no endless tunnel,' and because SMEs and small business owners are working hard on the front lines of the economy and quarantine, we will wisely find an exit this time as we have during many past crises."

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