New Chairman and CEO Bang Moon-kyu of the Export and Import Bank of Korea(Eximbank)

New President Bang Moon-kyu of the Export and Import Bank of Korea(Eximbank) said he will do his best to help the Korean business firms to find an exit from the current slow down in overseas market.

He told a local daily following his appointment as the new CEO of the Eximbank on Oct. 29.

The former vice minister of the Strategy and Planning Ministry earned the Presidential approval for his nomination by Minister Hong Nam-ki of the Strategy and Planning.

The new Eximbank CEO began the term as the head of the state-run bank on Oct. 30 and will serve for three years for his first term. Bang said the economy lost its energy to grow and should find an outlet overseas, adding that the bank has an important role cut out for its contribution to the national economy.

It should take care of the financial side of the external economic policies of the government.

“The bank should do its best, although the environment is not that well due to the U.S.-China trade rift and the Japanese moves to restrict Korea’s export growth,” the new Eximbank CEO said.

Eximbank also has its work cut out to help sort out the small shipyards in financial trouble and restructure them so that some of them with excellent potentials can get going again. The bank also should support SMEs to find their own niche to set up operations overseas.

On Japanese actions to undermine Korea’s exports, the new Eximbank CEO said Korea ought to beat them with our own technologies to prop up our goods competitive power, We are going to strengthen our support to lead SMEs and startups to set up their operations overseas by providing them with enough financial support.

He said the reform growth sector has not yet developed enough to set up overseas operations, and we should lead the growth of the sector as soon as possible as much as possible so that we can help the reform business firms to overseas for the chances to make further growth in the global market.

KEXIM CEO Bang Moon-kyu and Catalin Harnagea, general director of Romania’s International Development Cooperation Agency (RoAid) hold a copy of an MOU on ‘international development cooperation knowledge sharing and implementation of cooperation projects’ they signed at KEXIM headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on Dec. 9. (Photos: Eximbank)

On the talk of the merger of the Korea Development Bank and Eximbank, the new Eximbank CEO said the government has yet to firm up its decision on the matter.

He said he personally believes that the two state-run financial institutions have similar financial functions and let them do their best to let the functions grow and expand fast.

Korea Eximbank (KEXIM) is an official export credit agency. Established in 1976, Korea Eximbank’s primary services include export loans, trade finance and guarantee programmes, and the bank also provides overseas investment credit, natural resources development credit, import credit and information services.

Korea Eximbank is also responsible for the operation of two government funds: the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) and the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund (IKCF).

The ratings of Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) are aligned with the Republic of Korea’s sovereign rating, reflecting its quasi-sovereign status. The Korean government is legally obliged to cover KEXIM’s losses if its capital reserve cannot cover them, thereby effectively guaranteeing its solvency.

Fitch notes that there is still a risk of higher albeit not excessive credit costs, given slow global economic growth and the bank’s significant bias towards corporates, particularly in the shipbuilding sector (47% of total; 5% for SME shipbuilders).

Fitch notes that KEXIM’s liquidity is highly vulnerable to capital market conditions (particularly for foreign currency), due to its full reliance on wholesale funding.

However, the bank’s weak funding structure is mitigated by the government’s strong support.

Also, despite substantial expansion in loans and guarantees in recent years, KEXIM’s capitalisation was adequate at mid-2010, with a Tier 1 of 9.3% and a total capital adequacy ratio of 10.9%, thanks to the government’s capital injections.