Yoon Dae-hee, chairman of the KODIT.

The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT) was selected as an organization to receive support via the 2020 Data Flagship Project in early July. It participated in the 2020 Data Flagship Project Contest by the Ministry of Science and ICT with the idea.

The Data Flagship Project is a government initiative that has been implemented annually since 2013 by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Information Society Agency for the purpose of revving up the big data industry. Until 2019, 130 public and private organizations participated and 53 tasks were selected to receive support.

The contest promotes the idea of “Let's Share Data,” which a small company submitted to the KODIT.

The KODIT proposed the project as a service under the concept of a “data bankbook for small and medium-sized enterprises” and was selected as the No. 1 institution to receive support through the project among 72 applicants.

The KODIT's data bankbook service for small and medium-sized enterprises allows those companies to "transfer" their data to where they want after changing various documents and information from small and medium-sized companies into data, and saving them in data bankbooks.

In addition, external data such as financial and commercial transaction information, will be added to provide various additional services, such as analyses of management activities and a growth map. The service will start at the end of this year, after the project development is completed.

“We hope this service will help small and medium-sized companies improve their financial accessibility and put data to good use,” a KODIT official said.

“The KODIT will continue to spare no efforts to provide innovative services to sharpen their data competitiveness in the future.” The KODIT said on July 8 that it has supplied a total of 54.9 billion won in guarantees during the one-year implementation of the Small and Medium Business Value-Up Program.

The KODIT has supported a total 88 companies since 2019 when the "mid-term value-up program" was introduced with the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK). It has provided 22.6 billion won in new guarantees, 32.3 billion won in the extension of the maturity of all guarantees, preferential treatment in guarantee fees and management consulting.

The Small and Medium Business Value-Up Program provides guarantees and non-financial services to small and medium-sized companies that have growth potential but suffer temporary difficulties.

Financially strapped companies with less than 10 billion won in total loans are eligible, as are job-creating companies which posted two consecutive years of operating losses and two consecutive years of an interest coverage ratio of less than 1.

They include small and medium-sized enterprises unable to use corporate workouts because their loans fall short of a certain level.

In addition, the KODIT provides companies with loans from the KODIT and the Industrial Bank of Korea, taking up 50 percent or more of their total loans with benefits such as lower interest rates on new and existing loans (up to two percentage points) and extending the maturity of all existing loans.

Meanwhile, the KODIT announced on July 15 that it has begun guaranteeing the regional assetization agreement to help social companies use idle space in a region as shared space for local communities.

The guarantee of the regional assetization agreement is a guarantee product under the Business Agreement for Regional Assetization Support Projects that the KODIT signed with the Ministry of Public Administration and Security and the NH Nonghyup Bank in October 2019.

Through this system, the KODIT provides up to 500 million won in a guarantee per company and a total of 37.5 billion won in guarantees for three years from 2020.

For four months from March of this year, 20 social companies were selected across the country after document reviews and on-site screening through the Regional Assetization Support Project Steering Committee which consists of experts from the private and public sectors and the government. The Ministry of Public Administration and Security set up the steering committee.

A view of Korea Credit Guarantee Fund Headquarters in Daegu. (Photos: KODIT)