In the 'Regional reinvestment evaluation' assessing funding supply, support for small and medium enterprises, and support for low-income loans in 13 cities and provinces excluding the capital region, SH Suhyup Bank and Standard Chartered Bank Korea received somewhat inadequate ratings, while Citibank received an inadequate rating.
On the 27th, the Financial Services Commission held a regional reinvestment evaluation committee meeting at the Seoul Government Complex and finalized the results of the regional reinvestment evaluation. The evaluation was conducted for 15 domestic banks, excluding industrial, export and internet-only banks, and 12 savings banks with asset sizes of over 1 trillion won as of the end of last year.
Among domestic banks, Hana, Kookmin, iM, corporations, and NongHyup banks received the highest rating of excellent. Meanwhile, Woori Bank was rated good, Shinhan Bank fair, SH and Suhyup banks somewhat inadequate, and Citibank inadequate. The Financial Services Commission noted, 'Citibank received an inadequate rating due to its withdrawal from retail banking, resulting in no new operations.'
Among local banks, Busan, Gwangju, Jeonbuk, and Gyeongnam banks received excellent ratings, and Jeju Bank received a good rating. The only savings bank that received an excellent rating was Korea Investment Savings Bank. BNK, JT, and OK banks received good ratings, while Yegeurim, JT Chinhae, and SBI Savings Bank received fair, Akyuon Savings Bank somewhat inadequate, and Welcome, OSB, Daeshin, and Pepper Savings Banks received inadequate ratings.
According to financial authorities, as of the end of last year, the non-capital region credit growth rate was 4.7%, a slight increase compared to the previous year (3.4%). In contrast, the capital region's credit growth rate rose from 4.5% to 6% during the same period. The non-capital region loan-to-deposit ratio was 124.1%, up from the previous year (123.7%), which is also high compared to the capital region (98.4%).
Last year, the proportion of small and medium enterprise loans among non-capital region corporate loans was 95.3%, higher than the capital region (83.1%). The growth rate of small and medium enterprise loans in the non-capital region last year was 3.3%, a decline from the previous year (4.3%), but smaller than the capital region's decline (1.5 percentage points) under the same conditions.
Last year, the proportion of low-income loans to household loans in the non-capital region was 1.95%, up 1.39 percentage points from the previous year. During the same period, the number of branches per 1 million people in the non-capital region was 102.5, lower than the capital region (115).
The financial authorities stated, 'The results of the regional reinvestment evaluation will be used for the Management Inspection of the Financial Supervisory Service and selection criteria for local governments and local education offices,' and added, 'We will continue discussions with relevant institutions to enhance the utilization of the regional reinvestment evaluation in the future.'