Last Year Bank Financial Support 136 Trillion Won... Shinhan Leads with 35 Trillion Won

Assemblyman Min Hyung-bae: "Differences Among Banks Result Solely from Government Agreement"

The streets of Hongdae are quiet due to social distancing measures in response to COVID-19. Businesses subject to closure orders have shut their doors.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Last year, the financial support performance of banks in response to the COVID-19 damage varied significantly. KB Kookmin Bank's support was only about one-third of Shinhan Bank's.

According to data on COVID-19 related financial sector support performance received by Min Hyung-bae, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, from the Financial Supervisory Service, a total of 137.2394 trillion KRW was supported across all financial sectors, including banks, from February 7 to December 31 last year.

By support category, maturity extension and principal repayment deferral accounted for the largest amount at 85.9706 trillion KRW. This was followed by new loans at 51.1592 trillion KRW and interest payment deferral at 1.096 billion KRW.

By financial institution, banks overwhelmingly accounted for most of the financial support with 135.9937 trillion KRW.

Banks provided 84.8348 trillion KRW through maturity extension and principal repayment deferral. New loans amounted to 51.1009 trillion KRW, and interest payment deferral was 580 million KRW.

Among the five major banks?Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup?Shinhan Bank provided the largest support amounting to 35.2572 trillion KRW. This was followed by Woori Bank (25.5992 trillion KRW), Hana Bank (21.9519 trillion KRW), Nonghyup Bank (12.6980 trillion KRW), and Kookmin Bank (12.3879 trillion KRW).

Regarding this, a KB Kookmin Bank official stated, "We operate a dedicated COVID-19 financial support window, frequently send internal documents urging active financial support, and reflect support performance in key performance indicators (KPI). We continuously strive to provide practical financial benefits to small business owners and companies struggling due to COVID-19."

Assemblyman Min said, "COVID-19 financial support was carried out solely based on agreements between financial companies and the government without institutional backing," analyzing the reason for the large performance gap among banks. He added, "Unlike foreign countries, relying only on the goodwill of the financial sector for support is problematic," emphasizing, "Private debt restructuring should be institutionalized considering the unavoidable circumstances of debtors."