Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.
Eximbank-Hana Bank join hands for global expansion of Korean firms
Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) CEO Bang Moon-kyu, left, poses with Hana Bank CEO Ji Sung-kyoo after signing a memorandum of understanding to offer financial support to Korean firms expanding overseas, at the former's headquarters on Yeouido in Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Eximbank
By Lee Min-hyung
By Lee Min-hyung
The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) is teaming up with Hana Bank to financially support Korean companies' global expansion, they said Wednesday.
The partnership is part of their efforts to help local firms make smooth inroads into countries in East Asia. Details of the memorandum of understanding include loan offers to firms planning to expand into emerging Asian countries with growth potential.
“The two lenders have provided trade finance worth 13 trillion won to local firms since 2013,” Eximbank CEO Bang Moon-kyu said. They have also offered project financing worth $4.8 billion during the same period, according to the two lenders.
“We are going to actively back up local firm's expansion into overseas territories by tightening our alliance,” he said.
Under the partnership, both sides will provide financial aid to companies considering expansion into the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and north of the Korean Peninsula in line with the Moon Jae-in administration's New Southern and New Northern policies.
They are President Moon Jae-in's two signature economic policies under which the administration aims to enhance diplomatic and economic ties with ASEAN states to a similar level as that of the so-called “big four” powers surrounding the peninsula ― the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
The state-run lender has in recent years backed up the government's drive, identifying Southeast Asia as an emerging hub for economic growth due to its massive trading and demographic potential.
Hana Bank, one of the nation's major commercial lenders, also pledged to continue supporting Korean companies for them to enhance their global competitiveness.
The lender, along with Eximbank, will join hands to find companies competitive enough to do business abroad, the lender said.
“Hana Bank will make more specific efforts to ensure the trade competitiveness of Korean firms,” Hana Bank CEO Ji Sung-kyoo said.
“By expanding financial support for export-driven companies to make entry into the emerging markets, we expect coronavirus-hit companies to overcome their difficulties,” he said.
The latest in a series of collaborations between the two lenders came earlier this month when Eximbank and Hana Bank offered joint financial support for Korean IT firms to export production equipment for electronic goods to Uzbekistan.
The two lenders provided 38 billion won in loans to Uzbek firms importing items from the Korean firms, according to the Eximbank.