Saemaeul Geumgo "Safely Protecting Savings and Deposits... Holding 77 Trillion Won in Cash Equivalents"

Sae-maeul Geumgo announced on the 5th that "we are managing deposits and savings safely and will grow further through thorough soundness management." This came as a response to growing concerns among financial consumers amid rumors of a crisis surrounding Sae-maeul Geumgo due to a recent rise in delinquency rates.

First, regarding depositor protection, Sae-maeul Geumgo explained, "According to the Sae-maeul Geumgo Act, there is a depositor protection fund that protects depositors up to 50 million KRW per person."

According to Sae-maeul Geumgo, even if some Sae-maeul Geumgo branches face issues, they are improving the quality of Sae-maeul Geumgo through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) with nearby branches and taking measures to ensure no damage occurs to customers. Sae-maeul Geumgo stated, "Customer deposits and savings, including those exceeding 50 million KRW, are fully transferred with principal and interest 100% intact," and added, "Since deposits exceeding 50 million KRW are also protected, no damage will occur."

Additionally, Sae-maeul Geumgo operates a 'Reserve Fund System' to protect payments on customers' deposits and savings beyond the depositor protection system. Currently, the reserve fund amounts to approximately 13.3611 trillion KRW. According to Sae-maeul Geumgo, all assets and liabilities of the merged branches are transferred as is to the new high-quality branch, and all existing conditions such as interest rates and maturity remain the same, ensuring protection. A Sae-maeul Geumgo official added, "An amendment to the Sae-maeul Geumgo Act is underway to raise the mandatory reserve deposit ratio from 50% to 80% to guarantee more stable deposit payments."

Furthermore, Sae-maeul Geumgo emphasized that it currently holds cash-equivalent assets worth 77.3 trillion KRW, which is 30% of the branch deposits and savings, ensuring sufficient payment capacity.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho stated at the National Assembly’s Planning and Finance Committee plenary session in response to a question from Hong Sung-guk, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who asked, "Financial institutions for ordinary citizens are continuously deteriorating. Are you responding complacently?" He said, "We are closely monitoring concerns such as delinquency rates. We will respond to prevent excessive anxiety from spreading."

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