Kbank announced plans to significantly expand its corporate lending business, aiming to lead the non-face-to-face corporate finance market. By 2027, it plans to launch loans for small and medium-sized enterprises, evolving into a corporate finance platform.
On the 18th, Kbank held a press conference at the Community House Masil in Myeongdong, revealing a new product for refinancing second mortgages secured by real estate for business owners. The product provides up to 1 billion won in operating funds, capped at 85% of market value, for a maximum of 10 years, and all processes from loan limit inquiry to application, review, collateral valuation, document submission, and loan execution are conducted 100% non-face-to-face.
Following the launch of its first mortgage product in August last year and the expansion to second mortgages in September, Kbank strengthened its lending portfolio with the launch of the refinancing product today. Kim Min-chan, head of Kbank, noted, "It is possible to refinance a 'second mortgage product' even when there are existing loans from other financial institutions or rental contracts on the collateral property."
He also explained that the launch of the second mortgage refinancing product is expected to benefit more individual business customers with interest savings. Customers who executed apartment mortgage refinancing loans through Kbank during the past year have seen an average annual interest savings of about 1.8 million won per person.
Kbank emphasized that the corporate finance market has not yet progressed much in non-face-to-face transactions 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 corporations each form a loan market worth 500 trillion won, and this 1,000 trillion won market is still largely driven by face-to-face operations," adding, "Kbank aims to lead the market's transformation by starting non-face-to-face corporate finance ahead of competitors."
He continued, "This year, we plan to supply 'over 2 trillion won' in corporate loans, and especially as household loan regulations are strong this year, we intend to focus more on corporate loans, and we see no issues supplying as planned, irrespective of obtaining additional funds through initial public offerings (IPOs)."
Lee Seung-min, head of the Corporate Development Team, explained that thorough verification processes were conducted even for exceptional cases while developing non-face-to-face corporate finance products. The team leader stated, "The banking sector already possesses many verified solutions, so there didn’t seem to be significant technical difficulties while developing personal business real estate mortgage products. However, we took the time to thoroughly verify even the exceptional exceptional cases after implementing many ideas into technology and gained confidence in them."
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 while continuing efforts for mutual growth. We plan to diversify our loan product lineup further, including expansions into the small and medium-sized corporate lending market and collateral locations, transforming into a business platform for SOHO (small office/home office) and SME (small and medium-sized enterprises)."