New Entry of Subsidiaries Including Woori Asset Management
1.6 Trillion Won in Funding for SMEs and Small Business Owners
Expansion of Local Hiring and Social Contribution Infrastructure
Woori Financial Group announced on February 26 that it will build financial infrastructure in Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province, which is promoting the creation of a "third financial hub," by centering the efforts on its key subsidiaries in asset management, banking, and insurance.
Woori Financial currently has about 200 employees working in the Jeonju area, including staff of Woori Bank, the main transaction bank of the National Pension Service. The group plans to increase the total headcount to more than 300 by expanding the presence of subsidiaries such as Woori Asset Management.
Woori Asset Management will open a Jeonju office and hire local marketers and other staff to strengthen communication with the National Pension Service and enhance its regional network. It also plans to operate an internship program for university students in the Jeonbuk region to provide work experience related to capital markets.
Woori Bank will establish the Jeonbuk BIZ Prime Center, a corporate finance-focused channel, and concentrate its capabilities on supporting the growth and development of the value chain related to advanced strategic industries in the Jeonbuk region. The BIZ Prime Center is a branch specialized in small and medium-sized enterprises and serves as a core base for Woori Bank's productive finance, providing comprehensive financial services that combine investment, loans, and management consulting.
In the insurance segment, subsidiaries Tongyang Life Insurance and ABL Life Insurance will expand local hiring, focusing on exclusive agents. Woori Credit Information, a subsidiary specializing in debt collection, will open a Jeonju sales office to increase debt collection services for regional financial institutions, including Woori Bank and Woori Financial Capital branches located in Jeonju.
The group also plans to strengthen both productive finance and inclusive finance in the Jeonbuk region. First, through its in-house venture startup support program "DINNOLab (Digital Innovation Lab)," Woori Financial will focus on discovering and nurturing fintech startups based in Jeonbuk. Woori Financial opened the DINNOLab Jeonbuk Center in March last year and plans to link it with the group's own venture fund, the DINNOLab Fund, to provide investment support for startups in the Jeonbuk area. Last year, it selected and has been nurturing 7 companies as the first Jeonbuk cohort of DINNOLab, and this year it has been recruiting the second cohort from February 12 until March 5 in conjunction with Jeonbuk's "Financial Innovation Venture Startup Support Project."
For small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners in the Jeonbuk region, Woori Financial will also supply funds totaling 1.6 trillion won over the five-year period from this year through 2030. To expand social contribution infrastructure for local residents, the group will establish an additional Goodwill Store, a donation-based goods retail outlet operated by employing people with disabilities. It will also expand the "Our Neighborhood Good Store" program, which identifies small business owners who practice good deeds for underprivileged neighbors in the region and supports improvements to their store interiors and sanitary environments, from the current 9 locations in Jeonbuk to 24.
A Woori Financial official said, "Securing a capital market base in Jeonju, home to the National Pension Service, one of the world's three largest pension funds, will be an opportunity to dramatically strengthen Woori Financial's competitiveness in the capital market," adding, "By building financial infrastructure in the Jeonbuk region, we will respond to the pressing national task of balanced regional development and make greater efforts to revitalize the local economy."
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