The Korea Trade Insurance Corporation and eight banks, including the National, Shinhan, and Hana banks, will form a consultative body to discuss responses to U.S. tariffs.
According to the financial sector on the 23rd, the eight banks without insurance will launch a regular consultative body involving executives and staff next month. The eight banks include National, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, NongHyup, Corporations, IM, and Busan.
These entities have all signed agreements with the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation and made contributions. The eight banks contributed 198 billion won to the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation as of this month.
The consultative body will discuss measures to enhance export vitality in accordance with policies from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Financial Services Commission regarding U.S. tariffs. Resolutions discussed within the consultative body will be proposed to the government.
It will also discuss improvements to the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation's pre-shipment and post-shipment export credit guarantee (comprehensive purchase) system. The export credit guarantee allows small and medium-sized enterprises to convert export receivables into cash immediately at banks after selling goods on credit to overseas buyers. The Korea Trade Insurance Corporation provides collateral to the banks. The council will also discuss new product development and additional grants.
The council plans to meet twice in the first half (executive level) and second half (staff level) of the year to discuss current issues. It has been decided to expand the consultative body to include internet-specialized banks and other regional banks in the future.
Meanwhile, starting next month at the earliest, private corporations will also be able to make contributions to the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation. Until now, only the government and banks could contribute to the trade insurance fund operated by the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation. A government official noted, "If a large corporation contributes to the trade insurance fund, the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation can provide benefits by establishing a trade insurance program for the vendor companies of that large corporation." The Korea Trade Insurance Corporation plans to expand the scale of its trade insurance support to a record 252 trillion won this year.