Financial Authorities "Will Take Strict Action If Any Violations Related to Homeplus Are Found"

Financial Authorities Hold Joint Meeting
to Address Homeplus Situation

Homeplus female workers held a press conference on the 13th in front of MBK at D Tower, Gwanghwamun, Seoul, condemning the closure and sale of major stores by the operator MBK Partners, and conducted a collective head shaving./Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The financial authorities have announced that they will take strict action if any illegalities are found in relation to commercial papers (CP) and short-term bonds associated with Homeplus.

On the 14th, the Financial Services Commission held a meeting at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, with related ministries including the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Fair Trade Commission, the Financial Supervisory Service, the Korea Federation of Banks, and Industrial Bank of Korea to discuss the response direction regarding Homeplus's corporate rehabilitation.

Currently, banks (including Industrial Bank of Korea, NongHyup, Shinhan, Woori, Hana, and Kookmin) have prepared and are implementing their own support measures for Homeplus's partner companies. For existing loans, they support maturity extensions without principal repayment and repayment deferrals. In particular, they provide special loans that allow refinancing with working capital even in case of delinquency on accounts receivable secured loans. For partner companies requiring new funds, they are supporting liquidity by providing emergency funds up to 500 million KRW.

The financial authorities emphasized that they will monitor to ensure that the banks' support is effectively implemented on the ground. The Financial Supervisory Service began inspections on the 13th of two securities underwriters of CP and two credit rating agencies to verify various suspicions and facts raised in the media regarding Homeplus's rehabilitation application, and stressed that they will take strict action if any illegalities are found.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy expressed hope that Homeplus will responsibly and faithfully implement the repayment plan it has established, and urged close communication with partner companies to stabilize product supply based on this.

The government explained that it will closely monitor payment trends to partner companies during the court's rehabilitation process and share the situation among related agencies, and if necessary, the relevant ministries will jointly review additional response measures.

Efforts to stabilize the financial market will also continue. So far, the impact of Homeplus's rehabilitation application on the financial market has been limited, but since the application may increase market caution toward industries with sluggish business conditions, they stated that they will actively respond through market stabilization programs if necessary. They will also monitor consumer complaints related to gift certificates and other issues and respond accordingly.