Vice Chair Kwon Dae-young of the Financial Services Commission said on the 27th that about 1,242 trillion won will be deployed in productive finance over the next five years. Of that, 92 trillion won had been supplied as of the end of March this year, Kwon said.
According to the Financial Services Commission that day, Vice Chair Kwon said at the "productive finance council of financial sectors" meeting held on the 26th that "the outstanding balance of loans and investments to corporations, based on the five major financial holding companies and Korea Development Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), increased by 95 trillion won, and the share also rose by 2.8 percentage points, indicating a shift in capital flows within the financial sector."
Vice Chair Kwon assessed that the energy industry is shifting from resource and mining industries centered on traditional energy to large-scale facilities and infrastructure industries under three pillars: the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, carbon neutrality, and energy security. At the same time, Kwon said its importance is also growing as a national strategic industry from a supply chain perspective, including strategic stockpiling and the domestic production of core technologies.
Accordingly, Vice Chair Kwon stressed that the role of the financial sector must also change. Kwon said the importance of long-term, venture, and infrastructure capital is growing to respond to surging upfront investment costs (CAPEX), long payback structures, and a higher share of infrastructure investment, and that the need for blended finance with both fiscal and private finance is also expanding.
Vice Chair Kwon also pointed out regional imbalances in energy supply and demand. Kwon emphasized the need for infrastructure investment to link demand and supply, noting that as of 2023 the energy self-sufficiency rate shows the Seoul metropolitan area in a state of excess demand at 0.66, while non-capital regions show excess supply at 1.34.
In line with this, the government also said it is pushing to support the energy grand transition by expanding the supply of climate finance from 420 trillion won in 2030 to 790 trillion won in 2035, institutionalizing ESG disclosures, and backing energy megaprojects through the Public Growth Fund. The Financial Services Commission said it will support the construction of renewable energy production infrastructure and onshore wind and solar power projects in the provinces, while inducing active participation from the financial sector.