Kibo Partners with Six Regional Hub Banks to Foster Regional Strategic Industries

[Financial News] Kibo Technology Guarantee Fund announced on the 27th that it has signed a 'Productive Financial Support Business Agreement with Regional Banks for Technology-led Balanced Growth in Korea' with six regional hub banks, including Gyeongnam Bank, Gwangju Bank, Busan Bank, IM Bank, Jeonbuk Bank, and Jeju Bank, at its headquarters in Busan.
This agreement was prepared to respond to the crisis of regional extinction and to create new growth engines. Participating institutions will establish a cooperative system to jointly discover regional ventures and startups and focus on fostering strategic industries in each region.
In particular, the focus will be on core areas such as △Aerospace (Gyeongnam) △Artificial Intelligence (Gwangju) △Robots and Advanced Components (Daegu and Gyeongbuk) △Marine and Ports (Busan) △Pharmaceuticals and Bio (Jeonbuk) △Smart Tourism (Jeju), with plans to expand financial and non-financial support such as loans (guarantees), direct and indirect investments, cooperation with local governments, and information sharing.
Kibo supplied about 2.8 trillion won, or 51% of all new guarantees last year, to non-metropolitan areas and continued to support regional balanced growth and the fostering of advanced industries by providing about 2 trillion won to new growth sectors. With this agreement, Kibo plans to strengthen cooperation with the six banks to establish a foundation for stable growth of regional SMEs.
Jong-ho Kim, Chairman of Kibo, said, "This agreement is a turning point to respond to the reality of regions facing extinction and to foster future strategic industries and ventures/startups," adding, "Kibo will continue to expand collaboration with regional related institutions to support technology-led growth and take the lead in balanced development."

jimnn@fnnews.com Shin Ji-min Reporter