![Korea Development Bank Chairman Park Sang-jin speaks at a meeting of policy finance institutions to expand productive finance at the bank’s headquarters in Seoul on March 27. [Photo by Lee Seong-jin]](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2026/03/27/20260327132446135464.jpeg)
Korea Development Bank said it held a meeting on March 27 at its headquarters in Seoul with the Industrial Bank of Korea, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, the Export-Import Bank of Korea, the Korea Trade Insurance Corp. and the Korea Technology Finance Corp., and signed a memorandum of understanding.
The institutions selected seven core joint initiatives to support government policy goals, focusing on expanding productive finance, strengthening cooperation with the National Growth Fund and increasing regional finance to back locally led growth. They also agreed on ways to work together.
The seven areas are: expanding productive finance support and leading private finance; supporting the successful operation of the National Growth Fund; expanding regional finance for locally led growth; supporting ventures and startups through closer links among venture platforms; creating joint funds to strengthen the innovation ecosystem; building a system to foster climate tech; and boosting the competitiveness of small and midsize companies.
Park Sang-jin, chairman of Korea Development Bank, said the institutions formed a “one team” to pool their capabilities and expand productive finance support “amid a complex crisis,” adding that they would serve as a catalyst for private money to flow into innovation industries and would also expand the scale of regional finance operations to drive locally led growth.
Jang Min-young, president of the Industrial Bank of Korea, said combining the institutions’ expertise “organically” could help lead a successful shift toward productive finance despite domestic and external uncertainty and further strengthen the growth foundation for South Korean industries and companies.
The consultative body was set up as a follow-up to instructions given in January by Lee Eok-won, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, during a work report by public and affiliated agencies under the commission. Park said that while the commission had called for three organizations to form a consultative group, he believed it was more important for all institutions involved in productive finance to gather and cooperate.
Addressing criticism that projects promoted by KDB were being prioritized, Park said the basic principle was fairness. He added that he preferred reviewing regional projects first in the interest of balanced regional development, and said that could lead to misunderstandings.
Separately, Park said that regarding the scale of damage to South Korean companies from the recent Hormuz situation, large companies had not prepared specific answers because they expected it to end quickly, but were now tallying losses and appeared likely to request financial support.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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