Shinhan Bank Accepts 34.5% of Interest Rate Reduction Requests in First Half... 7.2 Billion Won Reduced

Largest Interest Reduction Amount Among Major Commercial Banks

Shinhan Bank announced on September 3 that it accepted 34.5% of interest rate reduction requests in the first half of this year, resulting in approximately 7.2 billion won in interest reductions. This is the largest amount among the five major commercial banks.

Since the first public disclosure of interest rate reduction request performance in the first half of 2022, Shinhan Bank has accepted about 310,000 out of 850,000 applications through the first half of this year, with total interest reductions reaching 46.6 billion won. This is the highest amount among the 19 banks subject to disclosure.

The interest rate reduction request system allows financial consumers to request a lower interest rate from banks if their credit status improves. It was legislated in 2019, and since 2022, the amount of interest reduction and acceptance rates have been disclosed semiannually through the Korea Federation of Banks.

Shinhan Bank improved customer accessibility and convenience of the interest rate reduction request system in 2022 under the leadership of Jin Okdong, then president of the bank and now chairman of Shinhan Financial Group. In March 2022, the bank introduced a non-face-to-face application system for household loans, and in September of the same year, it became the first major commercial bank to expand the system to corporate loans. Additionally, to increase utilization of the system, Shinhan Bank sends text messages at the beginning of each month to household loan customers who are most likely to qualify for an interest rate reduction, based on the bank’s own criteria.

A Shinhan Bank representative stated, "We will continue to strengthen financial services that reduce the burden on customers and support the recovery of people’s livelihoods."