Naver Pay, Jeju Bank contribute 600 million won, back 7.5 billion won in guarantees for Jeju small businesses

【Financial News, Jeju—Reporter Jeong Yong-bok】 Naver Pay and Jeju Bank will contribute 600 million won to provide 7.5 billion won in special guarantees to ease funding difficulties for small businesses in Jeju. The program will offer guarantees of up to 50 million won per business, along with lower guarantee fees and support for loan interest.
According to Jeju Special Self-Governing Province on the 15th, the province signed a business agreement that day at Samda Hall in the provincial government building with Naver Pay (Npay), Jeju Bank and the Jeju Credit Guarantee Foundation for the “Small Business Hope ON Special Guarantee.”
About 50 people attended the signing ceremony, including Jeju Governor Wi Seong-gon, Naver Pay CEO Park Sang-jin, Jeju Bank President Lee Hee-soo and Jeju Credit Guarantee Foundation Chairman Oh Kwang-seok.
The core of the program is a structure that uses contributions from private companies and local financial institutions to improve small businesses’ access to loans. Naver Pay and Jeju Bank will each contribute 300 million won, for a total of 600 million won, to the Jeju Credit Guarantee Foundation. The foundation will use the contributions to provide 7.5 billion won in guarantees—12.5 times the amount contributed—while Jeju Bank will issue the actual loans.
A credit guarantee is a system in which a guarantee institution guarantees repayment of a loan up to a certain amount, allowing businesses with insufficient collateral or credit to borrow from financial institutions. The 7.5 billion won is the total amount of guarantees backing loans, not grant money paid to small businesses.

The guarantee limit is up to 50 million won per business. The annual guarantee fee will be 0.9%, 0.3 percentage points below the existing standard rate.
Jeju will subsidize loan interest at an annual rate of 2.5% through its Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion Fund, financed with lottery proceeds. Interest support will be available to businesses that meet the fund’s eligibility requirements.
If each business uses 30 million won in guarantees, about 250 businesses could receive support. The actual number of beneficiary businesses and the loan amount will vary depending on the number of applications and the results of guarantee reviews.
Eligible applicants include businesses that use or plan to adopt Naver Pay’s offline payment service, Npay Connect, as well as small businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises in Jeju facing management difficulties. Applications and guarantee reviews will be handled remotely through the Jeju Credit Guarantee Foundation’s Guarantee Dream app. The agreement will remain in effect until the guarantee funds are exhausted.
The program is also notable for linking financial support with a digital business platform. Npay Connect is an integrated payment terminal that combines in-store payments with reviews, coupons, ordering and points accumulation. Naver Pay will provide digital payment training, support participation in trade fairs, and pursue refunds of transaction fees for payments made with Naver Pay Money and Points, among other initiatives.

Jeju Bank will issue the loans and work to improve its credit assessment system using data, while the Jeju Credit Guarantee Foundation will provide training and business-management consultations for small businesses.
The financial support is also tied to the business conditions facing small businesses in Jeju. According to the National Data Agency’s “Regional Economic Trends for the Second Quarter of 2026,” nationwide service-sector output rose 4.5% from a year earlier, while Jeju’s fell 3.0%. Jeju was the only one of the country’s 17 cities and provinces to record a decline in service-sector output.
A recent analysis by the Jeju Credit Guarantee Foundation of 13,039 small businesses using guarantees found that 5,921, or 45.4%, were classified as being in the business-risk or default-risk category. With financial pressures mounting, it is important to see how much improved access to loans through the special guarantees and lower financing costs will contribute to small businesses’ stability.
Naver Pay CEO Park Sang-jin said, “Going forward, we will increase support and investment for small businesses using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help them with their digital transformation.”
Jeju Governor Wi Seong-gon said, “I hope the funds businesses need will be provided quickly and give small businesses some breathing room in running their businesses,” adding, “We will expand financial support for small businesses by working with financial institutions and private companies.”


[email protected] Jeong Yong-bok Reporter