Korea Business News Agency - NSP NEWS AGENCY.

(Seoul=NSP News Agency) eunyoung Huh Journalist = It was found that the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), which should be supporting small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), has engaged in the largest number of restrictive sales activities among other banks.

According to the National Policy Committee of the National Assembly, IBK has forced SMEs to subscribe to its products such as installment savings on condition of giving them a loan.

The number of IBK’s transactions suspected of restrictive sales activities over the last 5 years (as of 1st half of 2022) was reportedly 294,202 that amounts to KRW 20.56 trillion, accounting for 31.8% of all banks’ suspicious cases.

Ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and recent interest rate hikes have also made it hard for SMEs to finance, making them vulnerable to such misconduct.

Jae-ho Park, a member of the National Assembly, said, “IBK, a government-run bank established to support SMEs, is even leading the restrictive sales activities subject to SMEs. The bank is taking advantage of a lender’s position that gives it an upper hand to bypass the laws and hurting SMEs.”

NSP News Agency eunyoung Huh Journalist eunyoung114@nspna.com
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