Small & Medium Companies Eligible for W300 Mln Loan

Small and medium-size enterprises, which have failed to get bank loans due to lack of collateral or deficiency in guarantees, can receive a loan of up to 300 million won (224,719 U.S. dollars) through a credit guarantee.

The government and financial companies are speeding up joint efforts to resolve the liquidity crisis in the finance market, including the purchase of 1.5 trillion won (1.1 billion dollars) worth of risky corporate bonds using the Bond Market Stabilization Fund.

The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund and the KIBO Technology Fund announced yesterday that they will provide up to 300 million won in an emergency guarantee to each small or medium-size company regardless of the balance of the guarantee around the upcoming Lunar New Year`s holiday through a fund of 9.1 trillion won (6.8 billion dollars).

For companies with insufficient collateral, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund has raised the limit of a guarantee, curtailed the screening period and streamlined the guarantee process, making the approval possible at a branch office without authorization from headquarters.

“We plan to buy 1.5 trillion won (1.1 billion dollars) worth of corporate bonds, financial companies’ credit loans and asset-backed commercial paper this month,“ says the KDB Asset Management, which is in charge of the operation of the bond fund.

“We are also discussing purchasing `A` and `BBB+` rated corporate bonds with the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund in conjunction with credit enhancement.”

parky@donga.com