Fierce ESG Competition in Secondary Financial Sector... Savings Banks Launch Scholarship Programs

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] The savings bank industry has started operating scholarship programs targeting young people. As ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management has become a key topic in the financial sector, the secondary financial sector is also focusing on social contribution projects.

According to the financial sector on the 5th, Pepper Savings Bank has launched the ‘Pepper Savings Bank & AI Peppers Hope Scholarship.’ The goal is to support young people facing academic difficulties in the region. A total of 250 million KRW in scholarships will be raised to select 100 scholarship recipients.

The applicants must be university students located in Gwangju City and Jeolla Nambuk Province. Anyone with a GPA of 2.5 or higher and a Korea Student Aid Foundation income bracket of 8 or below can apply. Applications are open until the 11th of this month.

Pepper Savings Bank has also provided 140 million KRW in the ‘COVID-19 Pepper Hope Scholarship’ to university students in Gyeonggi and Incheon.

OK Financial Group established the OK Baejeong Scholarship Foundation in 2002 and has been supporting students who excel academically but face financial difficulties. Approximately 7,000 students, including academic achievers, overseas Koreans, and promising athletes, have been supported. The cumulative scholarship amount is about 21 billion KRW.

The ‘OK Living Scholarship’ program was created to address the hardship of talented students who have to focus on part-time jobs rather than studies to cover living expenses. Selected OK Living Scholars can receive up to 2 million KRW per month in living expense scholarships until graduation. A total of about 300 students have received this living scholarship.

Moa Savings Bank also awards scholarships annually to outstanding students in the local community. Through the Moa Foundation, established in 2009, 147 students have received 170 million KRW in scholarships up to last year. In November last year, scholarships were also given to children of self-employed individuals in the Incheon area who faced economic difficulties due to COVID-19.

Welcome Financial Group is also providing scholarships to students through the Bang Jeong-hwan Scholarship Foundation. Over 11 years, scholarships have been awarded 22 times to about 3,500 students. The total scholarship amount provided so far is 5 billion KRW.

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