Number of Main Debtor Groups Rises to 41 This Year... Nine Added Including Eugene, Booyoung, and Aekyung

FSS Announces 2025 Main Debtor Groups Selection
Asiana, SM, Hoban, and Hanon Systems Excluded

This year, 41 corporate groups with significant outstanding loans in the financial sector have been designated as "Main Debtor Groups." Nine groups, including Eugene, Booyoung, Hankook & Company Group, Young Poong, MDM, Hyundai Department Store, Aekyung, Global Seah, and Seah, were newly added. Meanwhile, four groups?Kumho Asiana, SM, Hanon Systems, and Hoban Construction?were excluded, resulting in an increase of five groups compared to last year.

On May 29, the Financial Supervisory Service announced the results of the "2025 Main Debtor Group Selection." Each year, the FSS designates corporate groups with large outstanding loans from financial institutions as main debtor groups. The main creditor bank is required to annually assess the financial structure of each designated group, enter into financial structure improvement agreements with groups whose results are insufficient, monitor the implementation of self-rescue plans, and systematically manage credit risk.

The FSS selected groups whose total borrowings as of the end of last year exceeded 2.4012 trillion won and whose outstanding bank credit exceeded 1.4063 trillion won.

The top five main debtor groups?SK, Hyundai Motor, Samsung, Lotte, and LG?retained the same rankings as last year. Among the 41 main debtor groups, Woori Bank served as the main creditor for the largest number, with 11 groups. This was followed by Hana Bank with 10, Shinhan Bank with 8, Korea Development Bank with 7, KB Kookmin Bank with 3, and Nonghyup Bank with 2.

Woori Bank, Shinhan Bank, and KB Kookmin Bank maintained the same designations as the previous year. Hana Bank, which excluded Hoban Construction, newly included Booyoung, Hankook & Company Group, Young Poong, Hyundai Department Store, Aekyung, and Seah. In the case of Hyundai Department Store Group, despite a decrease in total borrowings last year, the increase in bank credit led to its inclusion as a main debtor group. Korea Development Bank excluded Kumho Asiana, SM, and Hanon Systems, while newly including Global Seah.

This year, the total outstanding bank credit for the 41 main debtor groups amounted to 37.18 trillion won, an increase of 3.29 trillion won (9.7%) compared to last year's 36 groups, which had 33.89 trillion won. Total borrowings reached 70.88 trillion won, up 6.72 trillion won (10.5%) from last year's 36 groups, which had 64.16 trillion won.

For the top five groups?SK, Hyundai Motor, Samsung, Lotte, and LG?as of the end of last year, outstanding bank credit and total borrowings amounted to 163.7 trillion won (44% of the total) and 392.5 trillion won (55.4% of the total), respectively. Compared to the previous year, bank credit decreased by 400 billion won (-0.2%), while total borrowings increased by 22.9 trillion won (6.2%).

The FSS stated, "The main creditor banks will conduct financial structure assessments for the 41 designated main debtor groups," adding, "We will ensure that the qualitative assessments rigorously reflect potential risks not captured in financial statements, so that strict evaluations are carried out."