The labor unions of the three major policy banks, which have been mentioned as candidates for a possible regional transfer, issued a joint statement on the 10th, saying, "Artificially carving up the heart of policy finance and driving it out to the provinces will be an economic disaster that will shake the foundations of the funding ecosystem for national high-tech industries and small and medium-sized enterprises."
The labor unions of Korea Development Bank (KDB), Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), and The Export-Import Bank of Korea said in "the position of the three policy bank unions on the government's review of a regional transfer of policy banks," "Immediately halt the review of a forced transfer of policy banks, which would destroy financial competitiveness and have a fatal adverse impact on the national economy," and stated accordingly.
The unions said, "How do you expect to compete with financial cities that have succeeded through concentration—Hong Kong, London, Singapore, New York, Shanghai, and Tokyo—after mechanically dispersing core financial institutions to the east, west, south, and north?" They added, "Even Roh Moo-hyun, the former president, a symbol of balanced national development and regional transfer, never touched 'financial institutions,' the country's future assets."
They went on, "If the government truly takes the failure of the first transfer as a lesson, it must face the particular nature of finance as a 'high value-added cluster industry,' which is fundamentally different from ordinary agencies, and make decisions accordingly," adding, "Forcing all public institutions wholesale into the provinces without objective verification or scientific grounds is nothing but desk-bound administration that repeats past mistakes."
They demanded, "Stop the unilateral discussion of a forced transfer that is proceeding while thoroughly ignoring policy bank workers, the stakeholders, without scientific grounds, and breaking the president's campaign pledge to 'thoroughly analyze the effects of the first public institution transfer first.'"
They said, "If the government does not accept this, we will mobilize every possible means and method to resist the attempt at a forced transfer."
The unions of the three major policy banks decided to hold a large-scale rally on the 11th near KDB in Yeouido, Seoul, to block the regional transfer. This is the first time the three policy bank unions are jointly holding a rally.