People Power Party lawmaker Kang Seung-gyu said on the 3rd that the Technology Finance Corporation Act revision he sponsored passed the National Assembly plenary session, opening the way to raise Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC)'s subrogation claim recovery rate and strengthen its financial soundness. The revision was passed at the plenary session that day with 264 votes in favor and one abstention out of 265 members present.
Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC) guarantees the pecuniary obligations of small and medium-sized enterprises and venture startups that have technology capabilities but weak collateral. While guaranteeing debts, the corporation exercises subrogation claims to maintain financial soundness.
However, concerns have been raised that, compared with the recently increasing balance of guarantees, KOTEC's subrogation claim recoveries remain at a record low, weakening its financial soundness. In particular, as debtors' assets have diversified into virtual assets and more, there has been a problem in identifying hidden assets. In addition, because the scope of submitted tax information related to national and local government taxes was not clear, the corporation faced difficulties in recovering claims.
In response, Kang included in the revision adding virtual asset service providers to the list of entities from which Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC) may request data, and specifying the items of tax information that can be requested from taxpayers of national and local government taxes. Kang said this could significantly raise KOTEC's subrogation claim recovery rate, and the recovered funds would be recycled into guarantees for small and medium-sized enterprises and venture startups.
Kang Seung-gyu said he hopes that, with the passage of the revision, Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC) can more firmly and soundly support small and medium-sized enterprises and venture startups with potential for innovative growth.