Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO) announced that it held a meeting at Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul on June 19 with four regional banks — Busan Bank, Gyeongnam Bank, Gwangju Bank, and Jeonbuk Bank — and iM Bank to discuss the successful launch and operation of Regional Bank Support Fund No. 2.
The meeting was organized to commemorate the launch of newly established Fund No. 2, which further expands the investment scale following Fund No. 1, established last year, and to discuss measures for the successful operation of the fund.
Fund No. 2 was established with a total size of 410 billion won, utilizing 150 billion won pledged by KAMCO as seed money and with five banks and others participating as co-investors. IGIS Asset Management will be in charge of managing the fund.
The fund will be utilized to preemptively acquire and resolve non-performing loans held by regional banks in order to improve their asset soundness.
Through this, the regional banks are expected to secure additional lending capacity, thereby enabling them to stably continue financial support for local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and low-income households facing financial difficulties.
KAMCO plans to actively support the sound financial management of regional banks through this fund and ensure a smooth flow of funds in the regional economies.
“KAMCO has supported the improvement of asset soundness by introducing diverse non-performing loan (NPL) processing methods tailored to the needs of financial institutions,” KAMCO President Jeong Jeong-hoon said.
“We will further strengthen KAMCO’s public roles so that regional banks will be able to contribute to virtuous cycles of the regional economies as the core financial foundation of the regional economies.”
Meanwhile, KAMCO has contributed significantly to a recovery of financial stability in the financial sector and the stability of the financial market by establishing a total of 15 NPL funds worth 3.6 trillion won from 2017 to the present to support the rapid resolution of NPLs held by financial institutions.
Onbid Digital Waste Recycling Campaign
KAMCO announced that it held the “Onbid Digital Waste Recycling Campaign (RE:PLUGGED with Onbid)” at the Busan International Financial Center (BIFC) with the participation of employees from BIFC tenant companies and organizations on June 17.
The event was organized to inform the general public of proper methods for the separating and disposing of digital waste — such as data storage devices, waste batteries, and old computers — which has increased rapidly with the recent rapid adoption of artificial intelligence functions, and to raise awareness regarding the recycling of rare metals contained in such waste.
KAMCO set up a donation counter in the lobby on the first floor of the BIFC and accepted donations of superannuated computers, waste batteries, power strips and small home appliances that were unused or scheduled for disposal from employees’ homes or offices.
The waste batteries and electronic waste collected through the event are scheduled to be recycled through “E-Circulation Governance,” a non-profit public interest corporation specializing in recycling.
The campaign is quite meaningful in that it presents a practical model for resource circulation that allows the public sector to contribute to carbon reduction by combining Onbid’s public asset disposal function with a digital waste recycling system.
“Onbid is expanding its role as a platform that goes beyond the efficient disposal of public assets to enhance the circular value of resources,” a KAMCO official said.
“We will continue to strive to ensure that Onbid takes the lead in expanding the participation of public institutions in resources recycling and leads to tangible carbon reduction results.”
Since 2024, KAMCO has been running the “Onbid Resource Circulation One-Stop System,” which supports the eco-friendly disposal of unsold electronic products and office furniture from institutions and companies using Onbid.
This action has resulted in a total reduction of 165 tons of greenhouse gas emissions to date.
