The first official meeting between Chairperson Lee Eog-weon and savings bank chief executive officers has been postponed. The savings bank industry has not been able to hold an official meeting since Lee took office in Aug. last year, for more than five months.

According to the financial authorities and the savings bank industry on the 3rd, the Financial Services Commission decided to defer the meeting between the Chairperson and savings bank CEOs that was scheduled to be held on the 5th at the Korea Federation of Savings Banks in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Lee is scheduled to attend a plenary meeting of the National Policy Committee to be held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 5th. The savings bank meeting was originally slated for Dec. last year but was postponed at that time as well in consideration of Lee's schedule.

Lee Eog-weon, chair of the Financial Services Commission, delivers his opening remarks at a roundtable with credit finance company CEOs at the Credit Finance Association in Jung District, Seoul, on November 20 last year./Courtesy of News1

If Lee meets with the savings bank CEOs, Lee is expected to ask them to join inclusive finance, including lowering rates for vulnerable groups. At the "1st grand transition meeting on inclusive finance" chaired by Lee in Jan., the financial authorities noted that when mid- to low-credit borrowers are pushed into secondary financial institutions such as savings banks, the lending rate can rise by up to 8 percentage points.

The savings bank sector is expected to propose applying differentiated regulations so that mid-interest unsecured loans used by mid- to low-credit borrowers can expand. Since the "6/27 measures," which limit the loan limit for unsecured credit loans to within annual income, savings banks' lending capacity has weakened.

Since taking office, Lee has been holding introductory meetings in turn with financial sectors. Lee has been asking for participation in productive finance and risk management, while each sector has been delivering proposals such as institutional improvements to Lee.

Starting with a meeting with 20 bank presidents in Sept. last year, Lee met in Oct. last year with securities firm and asset management firm CEOs, insurance company CEOs, and related financial institutions in sequence. In Nov. last year, Lee held a meeting with specialized credit finance company CEOs. The sectors that have not yet met with Lee are savings banks and mutual finance institutions.

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