“Applause for expanding youth hiring” ... Insurer and bank both receive this year’s inaugural award

[Financial News] To mark the 11th Financial Day, 194 awards for contributions to financial development were presented. About 450 people attended the event, including Financial Services Commission Chair Lee Eok-won, Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Chan-jin, award recipients and their families, and representatives and employees of financial associations and companies.
On the 27th, the Financial Services Commission held a ceremony marking the 11th Financial Day at The Westin Josun Seoul hotel. Financial Day is a statutory commemorative day intended to raise public interest in finance and encourage those working in the financial sector.
About 450 people attended the ceremony, including Financial Services Commission Chair Lee Eok-won, Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Chan-jin, award recipients and their families, and representatives and employees of financial associations and companies. Awards were presented in the categories of innovative finance, inclusive finance, and savings and investment.
This year, new awards were introduced for “shared growth,” in which support from financial companies helps customers grow and achieve results and customers create new social value, and for “expanding youth hiring”. The shared-growth awards recognize cases in which customers have grown with support from finance professionals, with the professionals and customers receiving awards together. A total of 10 awards went to five teams in the innovative-finance and inclusive-finance categories. The youth-hiring expansion award evaluates hiring scale, increases in hiring, and the operation of inclusive hiring programs, among other factors. Kyobo Life Insurance and K Bank received Financial Services Commission Chairperson’s Commendations.
The awards for contributions to financial development covered three categories—innovative finance, inclusive finance, and savings and investment—and comprised two orders, five medals, 19 Presidential Commendations, 26 Prime Minister’s Commendations, 124 Financial Services Commission Chairperson’s Commendations, and 18 Financial Supervisory Service Governor’s Commendations. Shin Hye-suk, a division head at Korea Development Bank, received the Order of Industrial Service Merit, Iron Tower, in the innovative-finance category, while Kang Bong-geun, a department head at the Gyeongnam Credit Guarantee Foundation, received the Seokryu Medal of the National Order of Merit in the inclusive-finance category. Shin was recognized for helping advance high-tech strategic industries by managing the National Growth Fund and establishing a support system. Kang was recognized for providing guarantee support to borrowers with low credit ratings and small-scale self-employed business owners, and for connecting them with policy financing.
Recipients included Kim Jae-wook, department head at the Korea Financial Investment Association, and Song Chang-young, a lawyer at Sehan Law Firm, in the innovative-finance category; Kim Young-shin, department head at the Credit Counseling and Recovery Service (CCRS), and Jeong Hui, assistant manager at NH NongHyup Bank, in the inclusive-finance category; and Kim Hae-ran, CEO of Okgwa Hanwoochon, in the savings-and-investment category. Presidential Commendations went to 15 people and four organizations, including Kim Jong-hyeon, team leader at the Korea Technology Finance Corporation; Lee Sang-gyu, executive director at Seoul Guarantee Insurance Company (SGI), in the innovative-finance category; Major Kim Jae-rak of the Air Force’s 3rd Missile Defense Brigade; Senior Police Officer Hong Seong-hwan of Busan Suyeong Police Station, in the inclusive-finance category; Hwigyeong Girls’ Middle School; and Choi Gwang-ryeon, CEO of Hanseong, in the savings-and-investment category. Prime Minister’s Commendations went to 25 people and one organization, including Kim Dong-won, division head at KB Securities, in the innovative-finance category; Im Sae-rom, team leader at the Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs; Noh Hee-young, department head at the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency, in the inclusive-finance category; and actor Lee Kwang-soo in the savings-and-investment category. Financial Services Commission Chairperson’s Commendations went to 112 people and 12 organizations, including Isu Specialty Chemical in the innovative-finance category; Rolling Jubilee and Kim Min-ho, assistant manager at the Korea Life Insurance Association, in the inclusive-finance category; and actor PARK EUN BIN in the savings-and-investment category.
In his congratulatory remarks at the ceremony, Financial Services Commission Chair Lee Eok-won said, “As a result of pursuing policies to redirect financial flows from a focus on real estate and collateral toward productive sectors, we are now seeing tangible changes, including expanded long-term capital supply to industrial sites and the stable management of household loans.” He also outlined the launch of the 150-trillion-won National Growth Fund, institutional reforms to improve the capital market’s fundamentals, expanded risk-capital supply, measures to promote preferential financing for regional areas, and plans to manage household debt.
He went on to stress the importance of inclusive finance, saying, “Inclusive finance provides people who have been excluded by conventional financial practices with an opportunity to make a fresh start.” He added, “The government is working to expand access to finance for ordinary people and vulnerable groups, resolve long-term delinquent debt through the New Leap Fund, and respond to crimes that harm people’s livelihoods.”

[email protected] Park Mun-su Reporter