Hana Bank is launching a 500 billion won ($350 million) liquidity program to foster industries in Busan and the Yeongnam region.
Hana Financial Group announced that Bank CEO Lee Ho-sung signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday at Busan City Hall with Busan Metropolitan City, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT), and Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC) to support the development of anchor companies in the Busan-Yeongnam region.
Hana Bank will contribute 10 billion won to KODIT and 5.2 billion won to KOTEC. Using these funds as a base, the bank plans to supply a total of 505.6 billion won in liquidity to companies in the Busan-Yeongnam area. Eligible recipients include companies in new growth engine industries, export-oriented and overseas-expanding firms, and regionally-based industrial companies.
For 265.6 billion won worth of loans, the bank will also subsidize guarantee fees by 0.6 percentage points for two years. KOTEC and KODIT will additionally offer preferential guarantee ratios and fee reductions to ease the financial burden on regional companies. Busan City will provide interest subsidies of 2 percentage points for three years on 150 billion won in working capital, with a cap of 800 million won per company. The Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry will promote the program to encourage corporate participation.
The agreement was designed to support the national balanced development strategy centered on the "5 Poles, 3 Special Zones" initiative being pursued by the Lee Jae-myung administration. Hana Bank aims to stabilize corporate operations and invigorate the economic ecosystem through financial support tailored to each region's industrial structure and needs.
Hana Bank is also working systematically to ensure that regional and small businesses are not left behind in the transition to productive finance. Last month, the bank contributed 1 billion won to KOTEC to supply 20 billion won in working capital supporting future strategic industry companies in the Chungcheong region. It also signed a financial support agreement with Korea Trade Insurance Corporation to provide 5 trillion won over three years, reducing financing costs and supporting working capital and facility investment for export-oriented small and mid-sized enterprises. The bank has restructured its key performance indicator (KPI) categories and added bonus criteria to channel funding toward core advanced industries such as artificial intelligence (AI) and biotechnology.
"Balanced regional development is a key pillar for securing new national growth engines," CEO Lee said. "We will spare no effort in providing financial support to nurture technologically capable anchor companies in the Busan-Yeongnam region and establish growth engines for each area."
Attending the signing ceremony were Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun, Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Yang Jae-saeng, KOTEC Executive Director Lee Sang-chang, and KODIT Executive Director Chae Byung-ho.