Ministry of SMEs and Startups Holds Awards Ceremony for Financial Support Contributions to Small and Medium Ventures

74 Financial Institution Executives and Employees and 2 Organizations Awarded

On the 26th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it held the '29th Small and Medium Venture Business Financial Support Merit Awards Ceremony' at the DMC Hall of the Small and Medium Business DMC Tower in Seoul. Now in its 29th year, the Small and Medium Venture Business Financial Support Merit Awards Ceremony recognizes outstanding financial institutions and their employees who have contributed to financial support for small business owners and small and medium venture businesses. At this year's ceremony, a total of 76 awards were presented, including 12 government honors such as orders of merit and 64 commendations from institution heads.

In the individual category, Shinhan Bank President Jeong Sang-hyeok (Euntap Industrial Medal) and NongHyup Bank Vice President Choi Young-sik (Industrial Medal) were selected as awardees. The Small Enterprise and Market Service and the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation were selected as excellent financial support institutions and received the Presidential Citation.

Shinhan Bank President Jeong Sang-hyeok, who received the Euntap Industrial Medal, was highly praised for supporting 3.2 trillion KRW worth of business normalization funds across approximately 6,000 cases through programs such as the Corporate Success Program, which provides new funds and repayment deferrals to SMEs facing liquidity difficulties; the Corporate Re-advancement Program, which offers optimal repayment methods to support debt repayment; and Individual Business Owner 119, which supports long-term installment refinancing, maturity extensions, and interest deferrals for borrowers at risk of delinquency.

NongHyup Bank Vice President Choi Young-sik, awarded the Industrial Medal, supported small business owners and SMEs lacking collateral through contributions of 70 billion KRW this year to regional credit guarantee foundations and a new special contribution business agreement worth 40.4 billion KRW with the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund and the Korea Technology Finance Corporation. In particular, he was recognized for actively participating in the 'Proactive Voluntary Restructuring Program,' which identifies at-risk SMEs in advance and leads business normalization through prompt financial support in line with government policies.

In the group category, the Small Enterprise and Market Service, which received the Presidential Citation, focused on alleviating the debt burden of small business owners struggling with prolonged high interest rates and supporting vulnerable small business owners. It was recognized for its role as a key policy financial institution supporting the business stability of small business owners and self-employed individuals by providing low-interest loans worth approximately 810 billion KRW across about 30,000 cases targeting low-credit small business owners.

The Korea Trade Insurance Corporation was recognized for its achievement in introducing export package preferential financial support worth up to 2 trillion KRW for export SMEs through a special contribution of 131.5 billion KRW, secured with active cooperation from the five major commercial banks, and received the Presidential Citation in the group category alongside the Small Enterprise and Market Service.

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