In response to the unsettled payment incident involving Tmon and Wemakeprice, measures such as maturity extensions and interest deferrals by financial institutions amounting to approximately 290 billion KRW, as well as funding support from policy financial institutions, have been implemented for the affected companies. The government plans to expand support starting from the 9th to include companies affected by unsettled payments from Interpark Shopping and AK Mall, where about 80 billion KRW in unsettled amounts have occurred.
The Financial Services Commission announced on the 8th that the financial sector has implemented maturity extensions and interest deferrals for up to one year on 1,262 loans (amounting to 155.88 billion KRW) held by companies affected by Tmon and Wemakeprice, covering general loans and advance payment loans, over the period from the 7th of last month to the 4th of this month.
By loan type, advance payment loans accounted for 1,072 cases (103.46 billion KRW), and general loans were 197 cases (52.42 billion KRW). By financial sector, banks led with 1,099 cases (117.62 billion KRW), followed by savings banks (24.1 billion KRW), the Small and Medium Business Corporation and the Small Enterprise and Market Service (14.1 billion KRW), and credit card companies (16 million KRW).
Additionally, policy financial institutions (SME Corporation, Small Enterprise and Market Service, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund - Industrial Bank of Korea) have disbursed a total of 891 cases amounting to 133.62 billion KRW in funding from the 14th of last month to the 4th of this month.
The SME Corporation and Small Enterprise and Market Service apply a single interest rate of 2.5% through direct lending, with average loan amounts of 290 million KRW and 38 million KRW respectively. The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund applied an average interest rate of 3.95%, with an average loan amount of 306 million KRW.
Meanwhile, starting from the 9th, support will also be extended to companies affected by unsettled payments from Interpark Shopping and AK Mall. Eligible companies and loans include all financial sector (banks, life insurance, non-life insurance, credit finance, savings banks, mutual finance - Nonghyup, Suhyup, Forestry Cooperatives, Credit Unions, Saemaeul Geumgo) business or corporate loans held by companies with sales after July, the period subject to delayed settlement. However, household loans such as mortgage loans and personal credit loans unrelated to the business are excluded.
Similar to Tmon and Wemakeprice, financial companies will broadly support companies listed on these e-commerce platforms if they prove sales after July through the seller page on the respective websites.
To receive maturity extensions and repayment deferrals, companies must not have principal or interest arrears or be insolvent. However, for companies that have inevitably fallen behind on loan repayments due to unexpected cash flow shortages caused by unsettled payments from Interpark Shopping and AK Mall, support will be provided even if arrears occurred between July 10 and the 9th of this month. Other support conditions are the same as those for Tmon and Wemakeprice.
The liquidity support programs of policy financial institutions will also be expanded to companies affected by Interpark Shopping and AK Mall. For the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund and Industrial Bank of Korea, interest rates of 3.3% to 4.4% and a guarantee fee of 0.5% apply, with a maximum support limit of 3 billion KRW. The Small Enterprise and Market Service offers a 2.5% interest rate with a limit of 150 million KRW.
Local governments’ own programs will also be expanded soon. Seoul City will increase the per-company limit of the e-commerce entry damage recovery fund from the current 50 million KRW to 150 million KRW and reduce the interest rate from 3.0% to 2.0%. Additionally, Gyeonggi Province will focus the allocation of special management funds for e-commerce damage support on small and medium-sized enterprises with larger damage scales.
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