Success in Many Areas

Korea Export-Import Bank expands its role in diversified areas including inter-Korea economic cooperation

The Korea Export/Import Bank provided a total of 30.75 trillion won in loans and credit for the first time exceeding the 30 trillion won level last year, breaking record for the fourth year in a row.
The management result also showed great figures with net profit amounting to 166.6 billion won ending the year in the black for over 30 years and NPL the lowest among the banking institutions in the country at 0.13 percent last year.
In October, last year, the Moody's Credit Ratings Agency upgraded the bank's credit rating to Aa3, the highest among the banks in the country, boosting the bank's international reputation.
Also in the customer satisfaction index conducted by the Ministry of Budget and Planning for state-owned corporations, the bank came up top last year for two years in a row. Among some 63 companies and government organizations surveyed on the evaluation of the reform, the bank was rated as the top organization.
For this year, the exim bank plans to disburse 18 trillion won in loans and 14.5 trillion won in credit, totaling 32.5 trillion won to ensure continued export growth and keep boosting international competitive edge of Korean export firms. The bank will search for companies with high potentials in the areas of aviation, electric motors, and service and support their growth as export industries to strengthen Korea's export engines.
The bank will strengthen also such existing export industries as plants, and shipbuilding by providing tailor-made financial support and also help overseas investment by Korean companies and the enhancement of competitiveness of Korean global firms. The bank will also focus its support on SME exports to grow and expansion of the exploration of natural resources overseas by Korean firms
He said the bank backed up the development of the country's shipbuilding and capital goods industries, along with heavy and chemical industries up until 1980s from the time the bank first launched its operation.
The bank also played a role of managing the Economic Development Cooperation Fund for the government to provide loans to developing countries in support their economic development. For this year, the EDCF has been increased to 550 billion won from 360 billion won last year and the provision of loans will be made in a diversified way and advanced manner.
Until the mid-1990s, the bank provided financial support to the growth of plant and machinery exporters and SMEs. The eximbank also administered the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund entrusted by the government. This year, the fund will be managed more effectively to make inter-Korean economic cooperation become more beneficial to both divided Koreas in real sense of the word.
The bank will continue to push its reform and strengthen its internal working capacity to make achieving its management targets attainable. The bank's operation can be divided into three areas; export-import, overseas investment, and the management of OECDF and inter-Korean cooperation fund.
From the mid-1990s and until 2002, the bank worked hard to provide support in many areas including the admission of Korea to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD), overcoming the foreign exchange crisis and other economic problems by with the bank's flexible loan policies. The bank procured foreign exchange necessary to cope with the foreign exchange crisis and played a role in making the financial market stable during the financial crisis.
The bank's paid-in capital increased significantly to 3.3 trillion won in 2005 through government capital injection, which in turn allowed for a greater lending capacity of the bank. The revision of the Export-Import Bank of Korea Act enabled the bank's future equity participation in overseas projects. The bank has become the first domestic bank to introduce export factoring services to effectively support non-L/C based export transactions of Korean firms.
Under the Medium-term EDCF Strategic Management Plan, the bank launched country programs designed specifically for highest priority countries with a view to providing these countries with EDCF loans annually based on medium-term aid targets. Moreover, bilateral policy dialogues were to be facilitated to identify and meet the diverse development needs of recipient countries. The EDCF's relationship with Multilateral Development Banks(MBDs) was further strengthened through co-financing development projects with MDBs. nw

Chairman and President of Korea Exim Bank Yang Cheon-shik.