Loan screening for small and midsize businesses supported by the Bank of Korea will be tightened. That is because fraudulent loans caused by document tampering occur every year. To prevent document tampering, the Bank of Korea plans to use "public mydata," which electronically receives accurate business registration information from loan applicants, to conduct screenings.
According to the Bank of Korea on the 26th, the Bank of Korea plans to build an identity verification and third-party information provision system for applicants for the Financial Intermediation Support Loan on its website. If an applicant agrees to provide information when applying for a loan, the applicant's information held by 60 public institutions, including the National Tax Service, will be transmitted to the Bank of Korea.
The Financial Intermediation Support Loan is a system in which the Bank of Korea supplies funds to commercial banks at a low annual rate of 1%, and the commercial banks use those funds for loans to small and midsize businesses. The Bank of Korea provides 30 trillion won in differentiated amounts by bank.
Until now, loan applicants submitted physical documents issued when applying to commercial banks. When the commercial banks forwarded these documents to the Bank of Korea, the Bank of Korea reviewed them to determine whether support was appropriate.
However, violations executed out of compliance with the rules have been increasing every year. Real estate, leasing, finance, and insurance are not eligible for the Financial Intermediation Support Loan, but some applicants doctor documents by changing the business category listed on the business registration certificate to obtain support.
Last year's violations reached 87.19 billion won. By year, the figures show an upward trend: 17.59 billion won in 2020, 41.5 billion won in 2021, 24.88 billion won in 2022, 26.53 billion won in 2023, and 73.08 billion won in 2024.
Using public mydata makes document tampering impossible because information held by public institutions can be obtained directly through electronic systems. It also eliminates the hassle of obtaining and submitting physical documents. A Bank of Korea official said, "We have been obtaining information from outside and conducting manual reviews," and added, "Now we aim to obtain information through public mydata and automate the screening."