[비즈한국] As the government increases the supply of policy-based financial support for low-income households to a record high this year, attention is focusing on the inclusive finance performance of the banking sector. According to the '2024 Banking Social Contribution Activity Report' recently published by the Korea Federation of Banks, the total amount of social contribution activities has increased for four consecutive years, but the scale of social responsibility finance has decreased compared to the previous year. In particular, with the role of internet-only banks—whose founding purpose includes expanding financial accessibility for those with mid-to-low credit scores—being emphasized, K-Bank, which did not previously handle policy-based financial products for low-income individuals among the three major internet banks (K-Bank, KakaoBank323410, Toss Bank), has announced its plans to launch such products this year.
K-Bank is preparing the Sunshine Loan 15 with the goal of launching it in the second half of the year. Policy-based financial products for low-income individuals are supplied jointly by the government and banks for the general public, designed for those in poverty or with low credit who struggle to use institutional financial firms. These include △New Hope Spore (Saehuimang Holssi) △Miso Finance △Sunshine Loan Bank △Sunshine Loan 15 △Sunshine Loan Youth △Switch-to-Dream Loan △Safety Net Loan, etc.
Sunshine Loan 15 is a product 100% guaranteed by the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency, allowing individuals with the lowest credit scores who are driven to high-interest loans like private lending or illegal financial services to receive bank loans as long as they meet minimum criteria. It offers a maximum limit of 20 million KRW with an interest rate of 15.9% per year for a term of 3 or 5 years. It is currently supplied by 14 banks, and among internet-only banks, only KakaoBank handles it. If K-Bank joins, the accessibility for low-credit individuals is expected to increase further.
K-Bank has not disclosed a specific launch date. An official from the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency explained, “Sunshine Loan 15 is a product launched through an agreement between the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency, which acts as the guarantor, and the banks. Before the launch, both parties must build an integrated computer system,” adding, “A system for bond management, such as loan recovery, is also necessary. It is a structure where the bank recovers the loan first, and if the user defaults for more than 3 months, the bank claims subrogation from the Agency.”
Unlike other internet-only banks, K-Bank has not handled major policy-based financial products for low-income individuals. In the '2024 Banking Social Contribution Activity Report,' K-Bank’s social responsibility finance performance for 2024 was recorded as 0 won. The social responsibility finance category is calculated based on the supply volume of products such as Saehuimang Holssi, Sunshine Loan 15, Sunshine Loan Youth, and Sunshine Loan Bank, and K-Bank had no products to report. In contrast, among the other internet-only banks, KakaoBank recorded 69.5 billion KRW and Toss Bank recorded 506.2 billion KRW.
KakaoBank and Toss Bank have been handling policy-based financial products for some time. KakaoBank has been the only one among the three to handle the high-interest alternative fund, Sunshine Loan 17 (changed to Sunshine Loan 15 in 2021), since October 2020. Toss Bank was the first to launch Sunshine Loan Bank in August 2023. Sunshine Loan Bank is a loan product targeting low-credit and low-income individuals who have used policy-based financial products and have improved their debt and credit status through faithful repayment; it is operated using contributions from the banking sector. As of 2024, Toss Bank accounts for 63% of the total supply of Sunshine Loan Bank, showing its significant share.
Both banks have expanded their portfolios this year as well. KakaoBank launched Sunshine Loan Bank in March, and Toss Bank joined the banks handling Sunshine Loan Youth, a loan product for university students, young adults, and early-career workers, starting in May. None of the three companies have launched Saehuimang Holssi, a product that offers loans based on separate screening criteria for those with low income and credit scores. All three companies offer 'Sunshine Loan 119,' which provides working capital for business operations to individual business owners currently using bank debt adjustment programs.
However, K-Bank stated that as part of its financial support for the general public, it handles 'Saitdol Loans,' a policy-based financial product for mid-to-low credit individuals guaranteed by the Seoul Guarantee Insurance. Furthermore, as part of inclusive finance, it launched the 'Boss Guarantee Loan' for small business owners. It is a product for local self-employed and small business owners, where local governments bear a portion of the loan interest, and there is no prepayment penalty.
Meanwhile, the scale of social contribution activities in the banking sector has maintained an upward trend for four consecutive years. The total amount of social contribution activities increased from 1.0617 trillion KRW in 2021, 1.238 trillion KRW in 2022, and 1.0349 trillion KRW in 2023, to 1.8934 trillion KRW in 2024. However, the total amount of social responsibility finance, including Saehuimang Holssi and Sunshine Loan, actually decreased compared to the previous year. It fell from 6.2845 trillion KRW in 2023 to 5.7863 trillion KRW in 2024. This appears to be due to the number of support cases decreasing from 625,906 to 527,155 during the same period.
Contributions in the field of inclusive finance for low-income individuals by internet-only banks are relatively insufficient compared to commercial banks. The inclusive finance category within social contribution activities includes support for inclusive finance projects (contributions of dormant deposits and checks, special contributions to the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency and Miso Finance Foundation, etc.) and support for credit recovery projects (budget support and donations to the Credit Counseling and Recovery Service). Among the three, KakaoBank supported 2.728 billion KRW in 2024, and K-Bank supported only 397 million KRW. Toss Bank had no record of execution at all. In the case of commercial banks, the support funds reach between 60 billion KRW and 1 trillion KRW.
This year, the support performance of the banking sector is expected to increase compared to last year. In February, the government announced that it would expand the scale of policy-based financial support for low-income households to a record high of 11.8 trillion KRW in 2025. Major policy-based financial products will be supplied early, reaching 60% within the first half of the year, and both supply amounts and loan limits will be increased.
Accordingly, the Financial Services Commission increased the supply scale of Sunshine Loan Youth from 200 billion KRW to 300 billion KRW through a supplementary budget. Starting from the 9th, it began supporting interest payments for young people who are social welfare targets, allowing them to benefit from a low interest rate of 2% per year. This is achieved by subsidizing 1.6 percentage points of the roughly 3.6% annual interest rate. The number of participating banks has also expanded from the existing 3 (Industrial Bank of Korea, Shinhan Bank, Jeonbuk Bank) to 7 by adding 4 more (Gwangju Bank, Toss Bank, Hana Bank, Jeju Bank).