Korea’s KEB Hana Bank announced on Thursday it will extend a total of 15 trillion won ($14 billion) by 2020 to help foster startups and support small and medium enterprises in line with the government’s initiative to promote SMEs.

The bank’s productive financing plan calls for direct investment worth 120 billion won each year into small firms and startups and the extension of 100 billion won annually into funds for innovative business creation and business growth support by 2020. The bank will also increase its technology financing support for promising SMEs to up to 9 trillion won. The bank will also increase its contribution to loan guarantee agencies to over 4 trillion won to help pioneers in the fourth industrial revolution.

The bank also plans to launch a special financial product dedicated to business and job creation to supply 1.5 trillion won in loans. At the same time, the bank is working on a new organizational set up including the establishment of the new growth venture support team and the SME venture finance department.

In addition, KEB Hana Bank kicked off efforts to build a platform to support SMEs and startups through Hana Institute of Finance.

This platform aims to provide various consulting and market information to small and medium enterprises and form a network among business people, said a bank official.

By Kim Dong-eun and Minu Kim

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