Sooeun Strengthens Overseas On-Lending for SMEs... Preferential Limits and Interest Rates

Fostering K-New Deal Industries and Promising Export and Early-Stage Export Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-ho Kim] The Export-Import Bank of Korea announced on the 20th that it will introduce and implement the ‘Overseas On-Lending Preferential Finance Program’ to strengthen support for export-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Overseas on-lending is an indirect financing product where the bank provides policy funds to intermediary financial institutions (such as commercial banks) with which agreements have been signed, and these intermediary financial institutions conduct their own screening to lend necessary funds to target companies.

The new program’s preferential treatment targets ▲ K-New Deal SMEs ▲ promising export companies reflecting emerging export trends such as K-Beauty, non-face-to-face services, and quarantine ▲ SMEs with an annual export scale of 2 billion KRW or less. In addition to the existing preferential programs (regional companies, startups), additional preferential fields have been set, granting these SMEs up to three times the loan limit and supporting a preferential interest rate reduced by 10 basis points (bp) (1bp=0.01%) compared to the existing on-lending.

In particular, the ‘Export Early-Stage Company Preferential Program’ is designed for SMEs that have newly entered overseas markets but have not yet reached a large export scale, making it difficult to use the bank’s financial products. Operating funds loans up to twice the annual export amount are possible. When establishing a new transaction with the bank, companies can receive up to a 10bp interest rate benefit, significantly lowering the policy finance barrier for early-stage export companies.

An official from the bank stated, “We plan to soon launch a service that simplifies the verification documents for export-import performance through BankTruss (Export-Import Statistical Information System), enhancing convenience for overseas on-lending customers.”

Meanwhile, since introducing the overseas on-lending system in 2015, the bank has supported a total of 5,205 companies with 13.1 trillion KRW.

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