Special address at NFCC's 75th anniversary conference

'Economic crisis must not lead to permanent financial exclusion'

Korea shares debt-adjustment experience at GCCA regular meeting

Korea Credit Counseling and Recovery Service Chairwoman Kim Eun-kyung delivers a special address at NFCC Connect 2026 in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday (local time). [Korea Credit Counseling and Recovery Service]
Korea Credit Counseling and Recovery Service Chairwoman Kim Eun-kyung delivers a special address at NFCC Connect 2026 in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday (local time). [Korea Credit Counseling and Recovery Service]

The Korea Credit Counseling and Recovery Service said Friday that Chairwoman Kim Eun-kyung, who also heads the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency, delivered a special address at NFCC Connect 2026 in Washington, D.C., proposing "financial basic rights" as a new paradigm for inclusive finance on the international stage.

NFCC Connect is an annual conference organized by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. This year's event, held to mark the NFCC's 75th anniversary, was themed "75 Years of Trust, A New Era of Innovation." The NFCC is a US nonprofit credit counseling organization founded in 1951 to support consumers in managing their credit and financial lives.

In her address, titled "Financial Basic Rights: A New Paradigm for Resilient Inclusive Finance," Kim proposed viewing finance not as a form of charitable protection but as a universal right, and outlined legislative and policy directions for realizing that vision.

"Finance must go beyond being a mere transaction tool — it must become the foundation that sustains people's lives and allows them to start over," Kim said. Invoking the spirit of the US Declaration of Independence, which proclaims life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as universal rights, she said the core of financial basic rights is ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to begin again, so that a single economic crisis does not lead to permanent exclusion from the financial system.

She then introduced a "Basic Finance" framework designed to move financial basic rights beyond declaration and into practice in people's daily lives. The framework consists of four pillars: basic counseling and debt adjustment, basic insurance, basic lending and basic savings.

Kim also attended a regular meeting of the Global Credit Counseling Alliance during her US visit. She shared Korea's experience with debt adjustment and counseling systems, as well as its integrated support model linking finance, employment and welfare, and discussed debtor protection regimes in each member country and future directions for cooperation. The GCCA is an international consultative body that brings together the Korea Credit Counseling and Recovery Service, the US NFCC, the UK's Toynbee Hall and Canada's Credit Counselling Canada to share information and experience on credit counseling.

Participating organizations agreed that while systems and environments differ by country, a key role of credit counseling agencies is to identify debt problems early, connect people with appropriate counseling and support systems, and help them achieve financial recovery.

"Financial problems cannot be solved in isolation from a person's life, so when difficulties arise, everyone must have access to the counseling and systems they need to start over," Kim said. "I hope this exchange serves as a stepping stone for financial basic rights to advance further as a shared agenda for the international community."

Meanwhile, the Korea Credit Counseling and Recovery Service has this year expanded its international cooperation network through exchanges with major credit counseling and inclusive finance institutions across Asia, Europe and Oceania — including Vietnam's Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, the UK's Toynbee Hall and the Financial Counsellors' Association of New South Wales in Australia. The agency plans to continue incorporating lessons from international policy exchanges into its domestic counseling and debt-adjustment systems, strengthening its role as a comprehensive debt counseling body that connects anyone facing financial difficulties with the services and support they need.


won@heraldcorp.com