“Guarantees are said not to be provided even between parents and children. Our institution, which is not family, provides guarantees. Therefore, if there is even a small lie during the guarantee review, it wouldn't be acceptable. That is why employees need to carefully examine all items during the credit review.”
Every Friday afternoon, a lecture on "practical work in financial public institutions" is held at Chung-Ang University’s Heukseok campus. As the title includes practical work, this class is not just a rote lecture of theories. Instead, employees from financial public institutions come to the university to teach practical skills. On the 28th, in a classroom at Chung-Ang University, a session sharing "tips" useful for corporate credit investigations was in full swing.
O Kyung-sang, a deputy director at the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT) who teaches a semester-long class, said, "When conducting corporate credit investigations, you must first look at the payroll. If the name of the representative director on the books is different from that of the highest-paid individual, it implies that the actual operator of the corporation is hidden." He noted, "There are also cases where a businessperson who went bankrupt after receiving a guarantee from the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund tries to set up another corporation and presents someone else as the representative to get guaranteed again."
Practical work in financial public institutions is a newly established elective subject in the Department of Business Administration at Chung-Ang University this year. The most notable feature of this course is that current employees of the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund teach practical skills from the podium. Since last year, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund has partnered with major universities across regions to teach students about policy finance. This year, regular courses have been established at three schools: Yeungnam University, Chung-Ang University, and Chungnam National University. A total of 214 students are enrolled in the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund lectures across the three schools. The goal of this course is to train future finance professionals by teaching policy finance practices over the semester.
In the class on the 28th, a lecture about the credit investigation and credit guarantee agreement work of the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund was conducted. Deputy Director O introduced the 13 documents used in credit investigations one by one, highlighting specific items that needed attention within the documents. During the lecture, he repeatedly emphasized, "If a corporation that was guaranteed suddenly goes bankrupt, the employees must also take responsibility," stating that "from the document review process, care must be taken to filter out underperforming corporations."
The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund lecture is gaining popularity among students preparing for jobs in the financial sector, as it teaches practical principles and methods. More than half of the 70 students enrolled at Chung-Ang University are third and fourth-year students hoping for employment in the financial sector. The students met in the classroom shared that they wanted to gain practical skills before facing the job market, and they felt reassured that the related lecture had emerged. Kim Ji-soo, 24, who is preparing for employment in a financial public corporation, stated, "After interning last year, I realized that understanding practical work is advantageous for employment."
In line with the demand from students who wish to gain practical skills, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund has prepared various activities during the semester. Each week, they inform students of current issues in the financial sector through articles. Other employees from the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund also take turns giving special lectures. On this day, Jin Kwang-young, head of the Western Seoul Sales Headquarters of the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, lectured on ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) management. He used his consulting experience with regional small and medium-sized enterprises as an example and showed some related materials to the students. Additionally, field trips to front-line companies and special lectures by startup chief executive officers (CEOs) are also scheduled.
The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund plans to expand its university policy finance education program in the future. It also aims to accelerate the establishment of industry-academic-research clusters, which is a long-term initiative of the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, using policy finance education as its cornerstone. A representative from the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund noted, "We will expand the industry-academic-research cluster nationwide to proactively foster financial talent and support entrepreneurship."