The government is reportedly reviewing a plan, as of the 5th, to temporarily raise the guarantee ratio of the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-sure) from the current 95% when financial institutions issue refund guarantees (RG) for advance payments to small and midsize shipbuilders.
An RG is a guarantee that if a shipbuilder fails to build a vessel on time or goes bankrupt midstream, a financial institution will repay, on the builder's behalf, the advance payments received in advance from the shipowner.
RGs are issued to shipbuilders by domestic financial institutions. To prevent those institutions from losing money, K-sure currently provides a counter-guarantee of up to 95%. If K-sure's counter-guarantee ratio rises, the risk of loss declines for financial institutions, allowing the overall volume of RGs to increase.
According to ChosunBiz reporting, the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources discussed measures to expand RG supply for small and midsize shipbuilders at a working-level meeting before the Industrial Competitiveness Enhancement Ministers' Meeting (Sangyeongjang) on the 30th of last month.
As of the end of last year, the RG issuance balance for small and midsize shipbuilders at the four major banks (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori) was 194.4 billion won, or just 1.6%. The gap is stark compared with the balance for large shipbuilders (11.9201 trillion won). Even after market conditions improved following the STX Group restructuring in 2013, banks that suffered trillion-won-level losses on shipbuilding-related loans and RGs have scarcely changed their risk-averse stance toward small and midsize shipbuilders.
President Lee Jae-myung said at the "K-Shipbuilding Future Vision Meeting" in Ulsan on the 13th of last month that "pressuring financial institutions does not seem to be the solution," and instructed officials to consider sharing risks through fiscal measures. In response, the government is examining how far to ease the 5% burden on the participating financial institutions.
However, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) is said to have expressed concern about raising it to 100%. Officials noted that if bank risk effectively becomes "zero (0)," the incentive to conduct screenings weakens, and such a move would not align with the principles of K-sure's reinsurance operations.
Along with a higher guarantee ratio, the government is also discussing increasing equity contributions from state-run financial institutions such as Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Export-Import Bank of Korea to expand RG limits themselves. Both measures ultimately require government budget support. A government official said, "The key issue is whether the government bears the risk in full or policy finance institutions and the private sector share part of it," adding, "coordination with the Ministry of Planning and Budget also remains."