Ministry of SMEs and Startups' 'Crisis Notification Talk' Establishes Itself as a Crisis Management System for Small Business Owners

A Total of 75,000 Messages Sent in the First Month
Participation Expanding to 17 Private Banks Starting in June
From Early Detection of Crisis Signs to Comprehensive Recovery Support

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on May 12 that the "Crisis Notification Talk" service for small business owners, which was introduced to proactively manage business crises and support recovery, has quickly gained traction and received a positive response within just one month of its implementation.

Recently, small business owners have faced increasing management difficulties due to the economic downturn and rising costs. Many have been unable to recognize their own crisis situations in time because they are preoccupied with their daily work, or have struggled to access support policies that are fragmented across different agencies. In response, the Ministry has established a support system by sending "Crisis Notification Talk" messages to high-risk borrowers, delinquent borrowers, and closed business borrowers, providing tailored policy information such as business diagnostics and debt restructuring, and linking them to recovery support programs.

According to the Ministry, a total of 75,000 Crisis Notification Talk messages were sent during the first month of the service. Among these, 26,000 messages were sent by five private banks. The Ministry plans to expand the number of participating banks to 17 private banks by June, aiming to build a more comprehensive crisis management system.

By crisis type, delinquent borrowers accounted for approximately 55,000 messages, followed by closed business borrowers with 14,000, and high-risk borrowers with 6,000. The Ministry is providing customized policy information such as business diagnostics and recovery support according to each crisis type.

In particular, this initiative is being recognized for establishing a proactive support system that connects even those small business owners in information blind spots to the support network through public-private cooperation, thereby ensuring that those in crisis do not miss the critical timing for recovery and business restart.

As of the end of April, the cumulative number of consultations for small business owners who received the Crisis Notification Talk reached about 3,500. Among these, consultations related to finance—such as repayment, loans, and guarantees—accounted for the largest share at 60%. Consultations for recovery support, including business improvement, closure, business restart, and employment, made up 40%. This indicates that financial issues are perceived as the most significant difficulty by small business owners in crisis.

Inter-agency integrated support is also actively underway. There have been 1,160 cases where data linkage between the Small Enterprise and Market Service, the Credit Counseling & Recovery Service, and the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency enabled the provision of both debt restructuring and policy support.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups is also pursuing follow-up support. Using the 2026 supplementary budget, the Ministry will provide around 24.6 billion won worth of support to recipients of the Crisis Notification Talk, including business diagnostics, mentoring, business closure consulting, and store demolition cost support. This support will continue until the allocated budget is exhausted.

Choi Wonyoung, policy chief for small business at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, "The Crisis Notification Talk is more than a simple guidance message; it is a proactive, on-site safety net that connects small business owners in crisis to recovery and restart support systems. Moving forward, we will continue to reflect feedback from the field and further advance our 'one-stop recovery support system' to provide seamless support from crisis response to business revival."

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