SK and Shinhan Bank "Interest Rate Reduction for ESG Excellent Partners"

SK and Shinhan Bank are providing low-interest loans to outstanding ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) partner companies.

Starting with an interest-free loan of 1 billion KRW to Dasom S&C, an SK Telecom partner company, in May, they have extended loans totaling 1.8 billion KRW at an average interest rate 3.4 percentage points lower to four companies, including Daeyeon and Infinity Consulting, partners of SK㈜ C&C, SK E&S, and SK Networks, up to this month. Additional loan reviews are underway for about 10 more partner companies. All of these companies received excellent grades in the ESG diagnostic evaluation conducted by SK and were included in the first round of financial support.

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Earlier, in September last year, SK and Shinhan Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to expand ESG management among SK partner companies and have been conducting ESG diagnostics on these partners. Depending on the diagnostic grade, partner companies can receive low-interest loans with interest reductions ranging from 1.2 to 2.0 percentage points. In particular, companies that receive the highest grade or show significant improvement in their ESG rating can also receive interest-free loans through additional support from SK.

To implement the loan interest reduction program, SK contributed 1 billion KRW to the Foundation for Large and Small Enterprises and Agriculture and Fisheries Cooperation, and Shinhan Bank is providing interest rate reduction benefits within a limit of 1 billion KRW as matching support.

Applying the 2.0 percentage point interest reduction rate provided to partner companies that received an A grade in the ESG evaluation, the total loan amount that the two companies can provide to SK partners reaches 100 billion KRW. Currently, about 45% of the more than 1,000 partner companies subject to ESG diagnostics have completed the evaluation, and each partner company is applying for loans according to the grades they have been assigned.

Additionally, ESG consulting that provides practical assistance to help SK partner companies promptly implement ESG management will continue. For partner companies newly undergoing ESG management diagnostics this year, consulting related to specific ESG issues such as ▲waste reduction and management ▲resource circulation ▲safety and health ▲strengthening board independence will also be conducted.

Kim Kwang-jo, Vice President and Head of the SV Promotion Team at SK SUPEX Council, said, "Large corporations and small and medium-sized partner companies in the global supply chain share the same interests," adding, "We expect this financial support program to become a model case of ESG win-win cooperation."

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