Kbank announced that it is planning to expand its corporate lending business in earnest, aiming to lead the 'non-face-to-face market for corporate finance.' The plan is to evolve into a corporate finance platform by launching small and medium-sized enterprise loans by 2027.
On the 18th, Kbank held a press conference at the Myeongdong Community House in Jung-gu and unveiled its newly launched collateral refinancing product for real estate loans for entrepreneurs. It offers funding for business operations up to 1 billion won, with a maximum of 85% of market value, and all processes, from loan limit inquiries to applications, assessments, collateral evaluations, document submissions, and loan execution, are conducted 100% online.
Kbank has strengthened its lending portfolio with the launch of the refinancing product after expanding from the senior product launched last August to the junior product in September. Kim Min-chan, head of Kbank Group, noted that 'refinancing loans are also possible for the junior products obtained in scenarios where there are existing loans from other financial institutions on real estate collateral or lease contracts.'
It was explained that the launch of the junior refinancing products is expected to allow more individual business customers to benefit from reduced interest rates. Over the course of 2024, customers who executed apartment collateral refinancing loans through Kbank reportedly saved an average of about 1.8 million won in interest per person annually.
Kbank emphasized that the corporate finance market is an area where non-face-to-face transactions have not progressed as much compared to personal finance. Kim Min-chan, head of the corporate group, stated, 'The domestic markets for individual business owners and small and medium-sized enterprises each form a loan market of 500 trillion won, but this 1 quadrillion won market is still mostly conducted face-to-face,' adding, 'Kbank aims to lead the opening of the market by starting non-face-to-face corporate financial services ahead of others.'
He continued, 'This year, we plan to supply more than 2 trillion won in corporate loans,' saying, 'In particular, as household loan regulations are strict this year, we are focusing more on corporate loans and do not foresee any issues in supplying as planned regardless of additional funding through initial public offerings (IPOs).'
Lee Seung-min, head of the corporate development team, explained that a thorough verification period was undertaken while developing non-face-to-face corporate financial products, even considering exceptions to exceptions. The head of team stated, 'The banking sector already has many proven solutions, so it seems there were not many technical difficulties in developing real estate collateral loan products for individual business owners, but we went through a period to verify exceptions to exceptions and gain assurance after implementing many ideas into technology.'
Kim, the group head, stated, 'Through non-face-to-face innovative finance, we aim to alleviate the financial inconveniences faced by small business owners and reduce financial expenses to continue efforts for mutual growth,' adding, 'We plan to diversify our lending product lineup further by entering the small and medium-sized enterprise lending market and expanding the collateral properties to transform into a SOHO (small office/home office)-SME (corporate finance)-business platform.'