Financial Services Commission to Boost Fintech... Expanding Innovation Fund to 1 Trillion Won and Supporting Overseas Expansion

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] The government plans to expand the investment support scale of the Fintech Innovation Fund from 500 billion KRW to 1 trillion KRW and strengthen measures to support the overseas expansion of domestic fintech companies.

On the 25th, the Financial Services Commission announced that it will jointly prepare and promote the "Fintech Company Support Activation Plan" with related organizations, which includes these details.

The support period for the Fintech Innovation Fund will be extended by 4 years, and the investment support amount will be increased from the existing 500 billion KRW to 1 trillion KRW by 2027. The Fintech Innovation Fund is a resource prepared based on financial sector funds and has invested a total of 500 billion KRW in fintech companies from 2020 to 2023.

The fund operation method will also be improved. Investments will be strengthened in early-stage fintech companies and those in the full-scale commercialization stage, and linked investments with private funds will be expanded.

Policy finance support will also increase. Policy financial institutions such as the Korea Development Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, and Korea Credit Guarantee Fund plan to raise their target support amounts for fintech companies and provide more than 200 billion KRW annually in loans and guarantees starting next year.

The fintech company support system will be integrated to improve efficiency, and a fintech support council involving policy financial institutions, related organizations, and private fintech labs will be formed to share and coordinate support status. Additionally, the support council will select 30 outstanding fintech companies to assist with investment linkage.

Active support will also be provided for the overseas market expansion of domestic fintech companies.

The Financial Services Commission stated, "Considering the current status of the fintech industry, including funding shortages due to the rising interest rate trend, slowing industrial growth momentum, and difficulties in overseas expansion of companies, we will strengthen support in various ways such as funding and startup activation."

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