The Korea Federation of Banks (Chairman Yong-Byeong Cho), the Ministry of SMEs and Startups , the Financial Services Commission , public institutions and private companies specializing in small business consulting held a business agreement ceremony on the 2nd to expand the small business consulting ecosystem.
This agreement was signed in December of last year as a follow-up measure to the 'Banking SME Financial Support Plan' announced by the Banking SMEs, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Financial Services Commission, etc., in order to establish a support system and implementation foundation for providing customized consulting to small business owners.
The agreement includes the establishment of a cooperative system for consulting on small business owners between participating organizations, mutual provision of support services, and interest rate discounts for those who complete consulting.
◆ Main contents of business agreement
▲ Establishment of a consulting cooperation system for small business owners
- Establishment of a consulting cooperation system for small business owners involving the government (Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Financial Services Commission), banking sector, and public and private platforms
▲ Mutual service provision, information sharing, and publicity cooperation
- Providing mutual consulting program linkage to activate small business consulting
- Support and sharing of data, research materials, and related services to support small business owners
- Promotion of small business support policies such as the 'Financial Support 3-piece Set' through bank branches
▲ Preferential interest rates for those who have completed consulting, etc.
- Public institutions and banks provide interest rate discounts to those who complete bank-related consulting.
- Through this agreement, the bank plans to organically link and expand the small business consulting support infrastructure that the participating institutions have developed in their respective fields to provide integrated services encompassing the financial sector, such as fund supply and debt adjustment, and the non-financial sector, such as consulting on business start-ups, operations, and closures.
- Once this cooperative system is fully established, it is expected that small business owners will be able to visit banks and receive consulting services from the banks or affiliated specialized institutions more easily.
Choi Won-young, director of the Small Business Policy Bureau at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “In order for small business owners to start businesses and grow smoothly, they need good mentors. I hope that the government, private sector, and banks will become a single team to actively support small business owners.”
Financial Services Commission Secretary-General Kwon Dae-young said, “We expect that entrepreneurs and small business owners will be able to systematically receive support for business district analysis, business model development, and financial and management support from banks and consulting firms.” He added, “We hope that this program will be a strong companion to small business owners, and the government will continue its policy efforts to ensure its well-establishment.”
Cho Yong-byeong, Chairman of the Korea Federation of Banks, said, “This agreement lays the foundation for reducing the search costs for small business owners and for ‘well’ designing and ‘properly’ providing customized consulting services for small business owners,” and added, “We will work to ensure that this leads to changes that small business owners can feel.”
In addition to signing the MOU, the banking sector has decided to introduce a banking consulting business manual and expand consulting centers as part of efforts to strengthen its capacity to provide consulting services to small and medium-sized businesses.
'Bank Consulting Business Manual' The Korea Federation of Banks has prepared a joint banking consulting manual through the banking TF to ensure that small business owners can receive a certain level of consulting services through their transaction banks.
The manual contains basic principles for strengthening consulting support for small business owners, as well as procedures for consulting work, and matters related to the organization, personnel, and internal standards required to perform the work.
In addition, measures to activate the system, such as preferential loan interest rates when consulting completion applicants apply for business loans from the bank, are also included. Accordingly, banks will analyze the situation of small business owners based on objective data, and in cases where direct consulting is difficult, they will conduct consulting in conjunction with external specialized organizations. After each bank goes through a preparation process, consulting services according to the manual will be provided starting in the second half of this year.
'Banking Consulting Center Expansion Plan' Banking plans to expand consulting centers to provide consulting services to small business owners. As of the end of last year, there were 32 consulting centers operated by 9 banks. The goal is to expand to 60 centers in 14 banks by the end of this year, and the plan is to continuously expand the centers. Through this, it is expected that small business owners' accessibility to consulting services will gradually improve.
In the future, the banking industry will continue to monitor the progress of this plan centered on the association, and will continue to discuss advanced measures such as activating consulting at the operation and closure stages and enhancing the banks’ own consulting capabilities to strengthen consulting capabilities for small business owners.
Meanwhile, in addition to consulting for small business owners, banks also plan to sequentially implement other programs of the 'Banking SME Financial Support Plan' such as customized debt adjustment ('Small Business 119 Plus'), support for closing businesses, and Sunshine Loan 119 in April.
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