Woori Financial Group "To Invest 80 Trillion Won over 5 Years in Productive & Inclusive Finance"

10 Trillion Won for National Growth Fund & Interest Rate Relief for Low-Credit Borrowers... "Future Mutual Growth Project"

Lim Jong-yong: "Accepting criticism over interest-based profits... Seeking a new path"

Woori Financial Group Chairman Lim Jong-yong (Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Han Ji-hoon = Woori Financial Group Chairman Lim Jong-yong announces the "Future Mutual Growth Project" at the headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 29th. 

Woori Financial Group announced on the 29th that it will invest a total of 80 trillion won through all its subsidiaries by 2030 to transition toward productive finance and expand inclusive finance.

In alignment with the Lee Jae-myung administration's financial policy stance, the group plans to shift away from real estate-focused management and concentrate its full efforts on enterprise-wide structural reform.

Woori Financial Group Chairman Lim Jong-yong held a press conference at the headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, this morning to announce the "Future Mutual Growth Project," which contains these initiatives.

This project consists of a 73 trillion won plan for productive finance and a 7 trillion won plan for inclusive finance.

For productive finance, Woori Financial has decided to contribute 10 trillion won to the National Growth Fund. This amounts to approximately 13% of the 75 trillion won private sector portion of the total 150 trillion won fund.

Furthermore, the group has committed to implementing 7 trillion won in direct investments, including 1 trillion won for a group joint investment fund, 1 trillion won for venture capital investment led by the securities arm, and 5 trillion won for funds managed by its asset management subsidiaries.

Of the 73 trillion won designated for productive finance, the remaining 56 trillion won will be provided as loans: 18 trillion won for large, medium-sized, and venture companies in cutting-edge strategic industries; 16 trillion won for local companies with excellent technology; 11 trillion won for innovative venture firms; 7 trillion won for export companies in core national industries; and 3 trillion won for prime small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small business owners.

This 17 trillion won investment (excluding loans) represents double the amount invested by Woori Financial over the past five years.

In addition, the company emphasized that through the 56 trillion won in loans, it aims to raise the corporate loan growth rate, which has stagnated at 4% over the past five years, to 10% in the future.

Woori Financial also plans to invest 7 trillion won in expanding mutual growth finance, such as loans for the working class, to promote inclusive finance. It will also participate in government-linked projects, including 48 billion won in guaranteed loans for small business owners and 100 billion won in support for bad banks.

In particular, the initiative is intended to reduce financial costs for low-credit borrowers.

The group plans to apply a 0.3 percentage point (p) interest rate reduction for low-credit borrowers with an external credit bureau (CB) rating of 7 or lower, and offer interest rate cuts of 0.4%p for those with an internal bank credit score (CSS) of 4–7 and 1.5%p for those with a score of 8 among existing loyal repayment customers.

To ensure the execution of the project, Woori Financial plans to introduce a performance evaluation metric for subsidiaries that weights productive and inclusive finance at up to 30%.

The event was attended by Chairman Lim, Woori Bank President Jung Jin-wan, and heads of major Woori Financial subsidiaries.

Chairman Lim stated, "The criticism regarding 'interest-based profits' carries within it a critique of our heavy reliance on real estate finance," adding, "We will humbly accept this criticism and seek a new path."

Regarding the significance of the project, he emphasized, "This is not just a list of financial support figures, but a demonstration of our commitment to playing a pioneering role as Woori Financial Group." Yonhap News