'Speedy, Big and Strong'

Pres. Park of Woori Bank chooses to spur growth of start-ups with 6 tln won in loans

Woori Bank has allocated 6 trillion won to be loaned to promising and reformative SMEs this year, which is up 10 percent over the amount usually allocated annually to SMEs.
President Park Hae-choon of Woori Bank announced the bank's allocation of the additional funding for SMEs at the Woori Business Club forum held at the Shilla Hotel in downtown Seoul. He said, "Small and medium businesses are the source of national wealth and the major players in creating jobs."The bank, regarded as the only native bank in the country, means to build the ties of mutual growth with SMEs in difficult times. The membership of the Woori Business Club includes some 400 SMEs whose main bank is Woori.
The bank plans to spur the SME start-ups with new financial products like the 'SOHO V Loan'and 'Woori Famous Brand Finance,'and provide support to small business owners.
Under a business tie up with the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KCGF), Woori plans to provide a maximum loan of 500 million won to a start-up SME in the manufacturing sector out of the 2.4 trillion won allocated.
The bank has also allocated 2.3 trillion won to reform-minded SMEs, which is equal to 10 percent of the 23 trillion won worth of guarantees the KCGF has allocated to SMEs. Woori also plans to expand the 'high-tech loan'and 'technology development network loan'facilities to spur the development and upgrading of technology by SMEs.
Jun Woo-tak, deputy manager of the SME Strategy Department, said the interest rate and the loan amount will vary depending on the borrower's credit standing, but the bank will develop various financial products and market them just for SMEs.
There is no doubt that President Park is a hard working financial CEO and he is known to be very tough, too. When he was hospitalized in November last year, he often called a director of the bank for updates on the situation involving obtaining permission to set up a branch in the Gwachon Integrated Government Building in Gwachon, Gyeonggi Province. He had been working hard to set up a branch because only Nonghyup bank had a branch in the complex. Park thought Woori should have a branch, too, as a bank in which the government holds a majority stake. Woori finally received the permission to open a minimum-type branch at the complex.
But that is only one of many examples of Park's drive. When he first arrived at the bank in March 2007, he ordered the operation of the credit card business strengthened by developing new credit card products. Within a month, the card side came up with a 'Woori V Card.'Park wanted a special marketing drive for the new card in order to reach its target of getting a 10 percent share of the credit card market. The plan seems to be on right track as cardholders in the first four months reached 1 million and in February, the cardholder numbers surpassed 2 million.
President Park's management slogans are a bank with speed, big in scale and strong in image, which hinge on fast moves in securing market domination and opportunities.
Park doesn't want to expand the bank's assets only to make it bigger. When he first arrived at Woori, his first order was to evaluate the quality of the assets to determine the risks involved.
Park is not anxious to catch up with Kookmin Bank, the largest commercial bank in the country, because moving ahead of Kookmin in these times fraught with uncertainties means taking larger risks. He is content to be the second leading bank, but always right behind the frontrunner so that Woori Bank can catch up when the conditions are right. nw

President Park Hae-choon of Woori Bank