Eugene, Booyoung, etc. also manage finances at banks.. Designated as main debtor group by Financial Supervisory Service

[Financial News] 41 large corporate groups have been designated as 'main debtor groups' that must undergo financial stability evaluations by creditor banks this year. Nine groups, including Eugene, Booyoung, and Hankook & Company Group, have been newly included, while four groups, including Kumho Asiana and SM, have been excluded.
The Financial Supervisory Service announced on the 28th that it selected 41 corporate groups with total borrowings of over 2.4012 trillion won and bank credit balances of over 1.4063 trillion won as of the end of last year as '2025 main debtor groups'.
Their bank credit exposure amounted to 371.8 trillion won, an increase of 32.9 trillion won (9.7%) compared to the previous year's main debtor groups (36 groups, 339.9 trillion won). Total borrowings increased by 67.2 trillion won (10.5%) to 708.8 trillion won compared to the previous year's main debtor groups (36 groups, 641.6 trillion won).
The main debtor group management system is a management system where the main creditor bank evaluates the financial structure of major corporate groups annually and induces financial structure improvement by making separate agreements with groups whose financial status has deteriorated. Groups that have signed financial structure improvement agreements must prepare and implement their own strong financial structure improvement plans (self-rescue plans). This is so-called 'preemptive restructuring'.
According to the Banking Supervision Regulations, corporate groups with total borrowings exceeding 0.1% of the nominal GDP of the year before last and bank credit balances exceeding 0.075% of the total bank corporate credit balance at the end of the year before last are designated as main debtor groups.
This year, nine groups, including Eugene, Booyoung, Hankook & Company Group, Youngpoong, MDM, Hyundai Department Store, Aekyung, Global Sae-A, and Sae-A, have been newly included in the main debtor groups. Four groups, including Kumho Asiana, SM, Halla Systems, and Hoban Construction, have been excluded.
The Financial Supervisory Service said, "Nine groups have been newly included due to increased total borrowings and credit exposure from new business, facility investments, and mergers of affiliates." In the case of Hyundai Department Store Group, although its asset size increased and total borrowings decreased last year, it is reported that bank credit exposure increased as liquidity was preemptively secured from banks for risk management.
On the other hand, Kumho Asiana and Halla Systems were excluded from the list as the main companies and affiliates were acquired by other groups, and Hoban Construction and SM fell short of the selection criteria for total borrowings or credit exposure.
The total borrowings of large corporate groups designated as main debtor groups this year were highest in the order of SK, Hyundai Motor, Samsung, Lotte, and LG. The ranking was the same as the previous year.
The main creditor bank with the most main debtor groups was Woori Bank (11 groups), followed by Hana (10 groups), Shinhan (8 groups), Industrial (7 groups), Kookmin (3 groups), and Nonghyup (2 groups).
As of the end of April this year, the number of affiliated companies in the 41 main debtor groups was 6,928, an increase of 507 (7.9%) compared to 6,421 in the 36 main debtor groups last year. Domestic corporations increased by 124 (6.9%) to 1,918 compared to the same month last year, and overseas corporations increased by 383 (8.3%) to 5,010 compared to the same month last year.
The number of affiliated companies by group was in the order of Hanwha (940), SK (846), Samsung (634), Hyundai Motor (505), CJ (399), LG (341), and Lotte (295). Groups with significant changes in the number of affiliated companies compared to the same month last year were Hanwha (52 companies), OCI (25 companies), and Kakao (-23 companies), mainly due to changes in overseas corporations.
Meanwhile, the main creditor bank plans to conduct a financial structure evaluation of the 41 groups selected as main debtor groups this year. The Financial Supervisory Service said, "We will induce a strict evaluation by sufficiently reflecting potential risks not reflected in the financial statements during qualitative evaluations."




sjmary@fnnews.com Seo Hye-jin Reporter