Private banking added to finance, employment and welfare support

Center expected to deliver community-focused, one-stop services

FSC chief says new inclusive finance model to spread nationwide

The headquarters of BNK Busan Bank, which operates the country's first public-private joint inclusive finance complex center together with the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency and other organizations. [Busan Bank]
The headquarters of BNK Busan Bank, which operates the country's first public-private joint inclusive finance complex center together with the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency and other organizations. [Busan Bank]

Korea's first community-based public-private inclusive finance center opened in Busan on Friday. Built on broad cooperation among the central government, Busan city and BNK Financial Group, the center is expected to provide vulnerable residents and small-business owners with tailored financial, employment and welfare services under one roof.

According to the Financial Services Commission, the Busan Complex Support Center was designed to bring together the existing multi-agency support framework and private-sector banking in a single space. Since 2024, the FSC has been consolidating services — including microfinance, debt adjustment, job-seeking assistance, vocational training and livelihood benefits — that were previously scattered across separate agencies, and has now added private banking to improve convenience.

The center houses the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency, the Credit Counseling and Recovery Service, BNK Busan Bank and a microcredit foundation. It will offer integrated counseling and referral services for Busan residents alongside financial consulting provided by BNK Busan Bank, with the aim of giving low-income and vulnerable residents facing compounding hardships a genuine path to recovery.

Borrowers with relatively strong credit ratings can receive private banking consultations directly at BNK Busan Bank, while those who cannot access mainstream finance are immediately referred to policy-based inclusive finance programs.

Marking the center's opening, BNK Busan Bank is launching BNK Financial Ladder — a suite of preferential loan and savings products exclusively for users of the complex support system who live in Busan, Ulsan or South Gyeongsang Province, developed in collaboration with the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency and others. The products are designed as a credit-building step to help vulnerable borrowers who have faithfully repaid policy microfinance loans transition into mainstream banking, serving as a financial ladder within the region.

The BNK Financial Ladder loan is a small-loan product with a ceiling of 3 million won ($1,930), carrying an annual interest rate of 5.93 to 9.99 percent. The BNK Financial Ladder savings account offers a maximum annual rate of 7.0 percent on monthly deposits of 200,000 won for up to one year, helping center users build a financial cushion.

The opening ceremony was attended by FSC Chairman Lee Eok-won, Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo, Korea Inclusive Finance Agency and Credit Counseling and Recovery Service head Kim Eun-kyung, BNK Financial Group Chairman Bin Dae-in, BNK Busan Bank President Kim Seong-ju and Korea Development Bank Chairman Park Sang-jin.

"Finance does not end with lending money — its role extends to helping people get back on their feet, reconnecting them to work and giving them hope," FSC Chairman Lee said. "I will work together to ensure that the Busan Complex Support Center goes beyond restoring one person's credit to become a new inclusive finance model that revives families' lives and the local economy, and spreads across the country."

BNK Financial Group Chairman Bin pledged that the group would "continue to focus on its core role as a regional bank, with productive finance and inclusive finance as its two pillars," adding: "We will be a financial institution that reaches out first when times are hard and stays with you to the end."

The FSC plans to expand the public-private collaborative support model nationwide, including by working with private financial institutions in Gwangju and North Jeolla Province to develop tailored support programs suited to each region's characteristics.


ehkim@heraldcorp.com