Municipal commercial banks · policy institutions · shipyards, sign 800 billion mutual benefit financial agreements to support cooperative enterprises

Commercial banks, policy financial institutions, and large shipbuilding companies jointly establish a financial support mechanism for shipbuilding industry partner companies, and the joint support system for easing on-site funding difficulties has officially been launched.

Shinhan Bank, Hana Bank, and Woori Bank announced on May 14th that they signed the “Win-Win Financial Support Agreement to Enhance Export Competitiveness and Expand Production Financing in the Shipbuilding Industry” together with Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, Samsung Heavy Industries, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Hanwha Ocean, major shipbuilding companies. This agreement was signed the day before at the “K-Shipbuilding Future Vision Forum” held at a hotel in Yeosu City. The shipbuilding industry faces long cycles from receiving large vessel orders to actual construction, delivery, and recovery of export payments, placing heavy financial burdens on participating companies. This agreement aims to offset this structural burden through financial means.

Specifically, Shinhan Bank will jointly contribute 21.3 billion KRW to Korea Trade Insurance Corporation with Samsung Heavy Industries. The contribution amounts are 17.8 billion KRW from Shinhan Bank and 3.5 billion KRW from Samsung Heavy Industries. Korea Trade Insurance Corporation plans to use this as a basis to provide a special guarantee of 300 billion KRW to Samsung Heavy Industries’ partner companies. Special guarantees are mechanisms that help small and medium-sized partner companies with insufficient guarantee capacity to raise export-related or operational funds, thus likely providing direct assistance in obtaining funds needed for ship equipment supply or production processes.

Hana Bank and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will collaborate to focus on supporting the operational stability of small and medium-sized shipbuilding companies and equipment partner companies. The two institutions have decided to implement 400 billion KRW in financial support, having already contributed 28 billion KRW to Korea Trade Insurance Corporation in January of this year. Woori Bank, after contributing 17.8 billion KRW and 3.5 billion KRW respectively, plans to utilize Korea Trade Insurance Corporation’s guarantee programs to provide trade finance and working capital loans to small and medium-sized and core partner companies. Trade finance refers to funds needed for import and export transactions, while working capital loans are funds borrowed by companies for daily operations such as purchasing raw materials or paying wages.

The significance of this agreement lies in the fact that banks are not merely increasing loans but are integrating the guarantee functions of policy institutions with the industrial ecosystem of large shipbuilding companies to design mechanisms that ensure funds can truly flow to the production sites. Recently, the shipbuilding industry has seen an improved outlook due to the global order recovery and increased demand for environmentally friendly, high-value-added ships. However, partner companies face burdens such as rising raw material prices, labor costs, and extended production cycles. In this context, if financial support can be stable and sustained, the order performance of large companies is more likely to translate into expanded production capacity for partner companies. This trend could become an important foundation for stabilizing the entire shipbuilding supply chain and maintaining export competitiveness in the future.