Choi Jun-woo, President of the Korea Housing Finance Corporation, is delivering the opening address at the '2021 Housing Finance Conference' held on the 1st at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Korea Housing Finance Corporation
[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] “The issue of household debt, which has increased to an extent that individuals cannot bear due to anxiety caused by the rapid rise in housing prices, is emerging as a risk factor for our financial system.”
On the 1st, at the ‘2021 Housing Finance Conference’ held at the Conrad Hotel in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, hosted by Korea Housing Finance Corporation under the theme ‘Digital Housing Finance, Leap to a New Paradigm,’ Choi Jun-woo, President of the Housing Finance Corporation, stated, “As instability in the housing market continues, terms like ‘Youngkkeun (investing by borrowing every last bit of one’s soul)’ and ‘Bit-tu (investing with debt)’ are heavily weighing down our society.”
In his opening remarks, President Choi said, “The government is promoting policies to strengthen the management of household debt risks while simultaneously advancing uninterrupted supply policies for real demand loans to vulnerable low-income housing groups,” adding, “The Corporation will also help stabilize housing for the homeless low-income population by minimizing damage to real demand borrowers through preferential treatment.”
President Choi also explained, “The social and economic turmoil caused by COVID-19 is accelerating technological innovation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, such as the expansion of non-face-to-face services,” and “The daily lives of the people have changed significantly, and the financial industry is being required to innovate in all areas, from customer contact points to the way tasks are processed.”
He added, “Designing personalized products based on big data and providing a safer and more convenient housing finance experience by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology will become important topics.”
Park Jung-hoon, Standing Commissioner of the Financial Services Commission, who gave a congratulatory speech, said, “The government will strengthen the foundation for activating information sharing between financial and non-financial sectors so that core assets like data can be used more freely in a digitalized financial environment,” and “As the need for non-financial investment such as data utilization and AI capability enhancement increases, we will promptly establish an institutional foundation.”
Regarding household debt, Commissioner Park stated, “Although the housing supply rate exceeds 100%, about 40% of households remain homeless,” and argued, “Despite concerns about the increase in household debt, to maintain an inclusive financial policy stance, we must embrace groups that have not been sufficiently considered as policy targets so far, as well as vulnerable groups with limited financial access and opportunities.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
