The banking sector will establish a cooperative system for consulting small businesses in collaboration with the government, public institutions, and private enterprises. It has been decided to offer preferential interest rates to small businesses that have completed banking consulting when applying for business loans.
On the 2nd, the Korea Federation of Banks signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Financial Services Commission and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, along with public institutions and private companies providing consulting for small businesses, to expand the ecosystem for small business consulting at the Banking Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul.
This agreement is a follow-up measure to the ‘Financial Support Plan for Small Businesses in the Banking Sector’ announced in December last year. The agreement includes details on building a cooperation system among participating institutions, mutual provision of support services, and interest rate discounts for consulting graduates.
They plan to provide integrated services through this agreement, linking the infrastructure for small business consulting support and covering funding supply, debt adjustment, and non-financial areas such as startup, operations, and business closure consulting.
The banking sector will introduce a small business consulting manual and expand consulting centers. The manual will outline basic principles to strengthen support for small business consulting and will include regulations on consulting procedures, organization, personnel, and internal standards. They plan to expand the number of consulting centers from the 32 currently operated by nine banks to 60 centers across 14 banks (excluding Industrial Bank, Korea Citibank, Export-Import Bank, KakaoBank, Toss Bank, and Kbank) by the end of this year. Additional measures to promote the system, such as offering preferential rates on business loans for consulting graduates when applying to the respective bank, are also included. Consulting according to the manual will begin in the second half of this year.
The banking sector will also sequentially implement other programs from the small business financial support plan this month, such as customized debt adjustment (small business 119 plus), support for business closures, and HaetSal Loan 119.
Kwon Dae-young, Secretary-General of the Financial Services Commission, noted, "I expect that entrepreneurs and small business owners will be able to systematically receive support for market analysis, business model development, and the linkage of financial and management support through banks and consulting institutions."
Cho Yong-byeong, president of the Korea Federation of Banks, stated, "This agreement lays the groundwork for reducing the search costs of small businesses and effectively designing and properly providing customized consulting for small businesses," adding that, "We will continue to strive to ensure that it leads to changes felt by small businesses."