IBK Industrial Bank, Extension of 'Ultra-Low Interest Special Loan' Period for Closed or Suspended Small Business Owners

Expected Benefits for Over 10,000 Individual Entrepreneurs Preparing to Restart After Temporary Closure or Business Suspension

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] IBK Industrial Bank of Korea announced on the 6th that it will implement an extension of the ‘Super Low-Interest Special Loan for Small Business Owners’ in cooperation with the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund to help small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners who have temporarily closed or gone out of business due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic to recover.

The ‘Super Low-Interest Special Loan for Small Business Owners’ is a loan secured by a guarantee certificate from the regional credit guarantee foundations, provided last year to support companies affected by COVID-19. IBK Industrial Bank of Korea provided approximately 7.8 trillion KRW in operating funds to about 270,000 companies over the past year. On the 31st of last month, the Small and Medium Business Financial Support Committee, attended by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, and the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, agreed to support loan period extensions even if individual business owners using regional credit guarantee fund guarantees have gone out of business.

Currently, about 10,000 companies are temporarily closed or out of business, making period extensions difficult; however, the bank stated that this simplified support system will help with recovery. The extension targets individual business owners who are currently repaying principal and interest normally and do not have any bad credit information such as credit guarantee accidents. By submitting a ‘Re-Startup Plan Agreement’ to the regional credit guarantee foundation and visiting the branch after the guarantee certificate maturity extension, they can apply for a loan period extension.

An IBK Industrial Bank of Korea official said, “Not only the ‘Super Low-Interest Special Loan’ but all individual business owner loans secured by regional credit guarantee certificates are eligible for support,” adding, “As a government policy bank specializing in supporting SMEs, we will actively participate in government policies to support companies affected by COVID-19.”

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