President Chang Young-chul of Korea Asset Management Corp. (KAMCO) said this is the 50th year for KAMCO, a company devoted to the stabilization of the financial market since its launching a half century ago.

"In order to be ready for the company's next 50 years, we have to strengthen our capacity as a safety pin for the national economy to focus on stabilization of the financial market, support the people's livelihoods, and boost the value of state assets in the years ahead.

"KAMCO will take over 2.5 trillion won worth of non-performing assets from financial firms and public organizations to support the stability of the financial market, and will strive to be a public organization for structural clean up without fail this year," the KAMCO CEO said in his New Year address on Jan. 2.

Chang said the company holds 17.5 trillion won worth of bad assets including project financing in default and 2.3 trillion won worth of bad assets taken over last year and those accumulated from 2008 to stabilize the financial market. "Its not going to be easy, but we have to do our job thoroughly for a stable economy through a stable financial market," the CEO stressed.

Chang said this year KAMCO will find those who need financial support among small business owners who have been shut out of the mainstream of the business world.

He said KAMCO should make contributions to the growth in value of public assets as the professional body responsible for handling those assets. This year, the company's role is being expanded and its responsibility is getting heavier as it must play the role of consignee for the collection of overdue national taxes and manage the development of the Sejong City government office building to be on lease to government-funded research organizations and manage the fund for state-owned assets, among others.

In the meantime, President Chang won the Dasan Financial Award, Special Category, for his role in expanding financial support to poor people and normalizing project financing since his arrival at KAMCO in November 2010 as CEO.

The citation said President Chang helped normalize project financing by savings banks and cleaned up bad assets in the public sector, among other big problems in public finance.

His achievements include boosting the financial support to poor people in line with government support policies.

Chang also was cited for his part in exchanging higher interest loans with loans that pay lower interest. He also was credited with signing MOUs with 15 local autonomous organizations in connection with providing financial support to the financially dislocated by doubling the support amount. He said about 130,000 people received support to help them recover their credit through the help provided by KAMCO in cooperation with the financial industry. 

In recognition of such achievements, KAMCO won the A-level evaluation grade in its performance for two years in a row and the top level assessment in its customer satisfaction for three years in a row as a public entity.  nw