Yoon Jong-won, CEO of IBK, "Supporting SMEs to Overcome Crisis and Continuing New Deal Finance"

Yoon Jong-won, President of the Industrial Bank of Korea (from left), Lee Dong-geol, Chairman of the Korea Development Bank, and Yoon Dae-hee, Chairman of the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, are attending the meeting between the Financial Services Commission Chairman and heads of policy financial institutions held on the 28th at the Korea Federation of Banks in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] Yoon Jong-won, President of IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, expressed his commitment on the 28th to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in overcoming crises and continuing New Deal finance initiatives at a policy financial institution heads meeting.

IBK Industrial Bank of Korea announced that President Yoon attended the policy financial institution heads meeting held at the Bankers Club of the Korea Federation of Banks, where they discussed financial issues including financial support in response to COVID-19 and support for future innovative growth. The meeting was attended by eight heads of policy financial institutions, including Financial Services Commission Chairman Ko Seung-beom, President Yoon, Korea Development Bank Chairman Lee Dong-geol, and Export-Import Bank of Korea President Visit Byung-gyu.

IBK is actively participating in overcoming the COVID-19 crisis by extending loan maturities worth 39.6 trillion won and deferring interest repayments of 2.1 trillion won to alleviate the debt burden of SMEs and small business owners facing management difficulties due to COVID-19.

On the 16th, IBK announced plans to expand support for the extended “maturity extension and repayment deferral measures” along with the soft landing program and Haenaeri loans operated by the bank to a scale of 1 trillion won. The soft landing program supports companies at risk of delinquency due to COVID-19 by lowering loan interest rates and deferring principal repayments. For small business owners and self-employed individuals with fewer than 10 regular employees who are experiencing financial difficulties, IBK plans to provide Haenaeri loans, which offer an additional interest rate reduction of up to 1%.

Furthermore, IBK stated that it will strengthen its role in innovative finance by supplying venture capital and establishing a support system for innovative industries, and plans to provide 20 trillion won in loans and 1 trillion won in investments over the next five years to foster New Deal sectors.

President Yoon said, “We will prioritize helping small business owners and the self-employed overcome the COVID-19 crisis, actively work to expand future growth engines through New Deal and innovative finance, and support SMEs’ ESG (environmental, social, and governance) management by providing carbon neutrality education and related consulting.”

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