Call for Job Creation, Market Stability, Support to SMEs

MOSF Minister Bahk says, 'Dig your well before you're thirsty'

Minister the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) Bahk Jae-wan urged those in the finance sector to create jobs, stabilize markets, provide support, and share the burden.
Delivering a speech at a New Year's gathering of the heads of the financial sector at the Seoul Lotte Hotel on Jan. 4, MOSF Minister Bahk made three demands, citing the proverb, "Dig your well before you're thirsty." He called for the expansion of policy loans to start-up firms and SMEs, stressing that the roles of the financial industry, which supplies money to the real economy, are essential. He urged the financial sector to create jobs by hiring gifted manpower, including high school graduates, as well as to focus on social responsibility by ensuring management transparency and promoting the concerns of the underprivileged.
In his speech, Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Kim Seok-dong stressed that the stabilization of financial markets is an absolute value that cannot be given up. "If SMEs are faced with financial difficulties, it would adversely affect job creation, and financial systems should be innovated to phase out the collective surety on loans," Kim said. The FSC chairman called for the financial sector to secure credibility from customers, saying that the financial industry cannot exist without credibility, and those in the industry must make efforts to improve the public's trust and image of it.
Gov. Kim Choong-soo of the Bank of Korea, said, "Now is the time for those in the financial sector and related authorities to join forces in pursuing financial development strategies while seeing the forest and the trees simultaneously."
Gov. Kwon Hyouk-se, of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), said with the general and presidential elections slated for this year, an alert against an economic crisis could be mitigated to some extent, so the CEOs of financial firms are called to stand firm without wavering under outside factors."
Among those on hand at the meeting were policymakers from the MOSF, FSC, FSS and other financial institutions as well as Chairman Kang Man-soo of the KDB Financial Group; Chairman Lee Pal-sung of the Woori Financial Group; Chairman Euh Yoon-dae of the Kookmin Financial Group; and Chairman Han Dong-woo of the Shinhan Financial Group. nw

Minister of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) Bahk Jae-wan speaks at a New Year's gathering of the heads of the financial sector.