The financial authorities will provide special guarantees worth up to 300 billion won to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) affected by Homeplus.
The Financial Services Commission announced on July 6 that it held a 'Homeplus Financial Sector Response Meeting.' The meeting discussed the current status of financial support for partner companies following the decision to terminate Homeplus's rehabilitation process on July 3, as well as future response directions.
The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund will apply 'Crisis Response Special Guarantees' to provide emergency liquidity support of up to 300 billion won for SMEs affected by Homeplus. The guarantee limit will be set at a maximum of 50 million won, with the guarantee fee rate reduced by 0.5 percentage points.
Cha Byeong-ho, head of the Credit Guarantee Fund's Credit Business Division, stated, "Immediately after the announcement of the decision to terminate the rehabilitation process, we quickly revised our internal guidelines related to special guarantees and completed the relevant procedures, allowing support applications to begin today. We have also communicated this support information to branches nationwide to minimize the time required for fund supply on the ground."
Since the initiation of Homeplus's rehabilitation process in March of last year, the banking sector has extended support to partner companies, including the maturity extension of accounts receivable-backed loans totaling 4.8944 trillion won (4,454 cases), repayment deferrals of 122.3 billion won (2,999 cases), and new funding of 15.8 billion won (93 cases).
Shin Jin-chang, secretary general of the Financial Services Commission, urged the banking sector to continue to carefully monitor and facilitate additional maturity extensions and repayment deferrals to alleviate financial difficulties faced by small partner companies.
The Financial Supervisory Service will continue to operate a financial consultation center for Homeplus suppliers and partner companies, enhancing one-stop support by linking with consultation channels of related agencies.
The financial authorities plan to continue discussions on additional support measures in conjunction with a government-wide task force.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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