government requested Korean banks, including us, to establish a “fast track” program to provide liquidity assistance to
small-
and
medium-sized
enterprises on an expedited basis since 2008. Since the termination of the “fast track” program in 2016, the Financial Services Commission implemented a swift financial assistance program for
small-
and
medium-sized
enterprise borrowers for a period of five years beginning on January 1, 2017, and in December 2021, the expiration of such program was extended to June 2022. Financial institutions participating in such program, including us, have provided financial assistance (including in the form of new loans, extension of maturity on existing obligations and provision of lower interest rates) to
small-
and
medium-sized
enterprise borrowers that are experiencing temporary liquidity crises but have a credit rating exceeding a certain threshold. The overall prospects for the Korean economy in 2022 and beyond remain uncertain, and the Korean government may extend or renew existing or past policies and initiatives or introduce new policies or initiatives to encourage Korean banks to provide financial support to
small-
and
medium-sized
enterprises. In particular, the ongoing
COVID-19
pandemic affecting many countries worldwide, including Korea, has prompted the Korean government in recent months to implement various emergency aid initiatives involving Korean banks, including Kookmin Bank, to provide liquidity assistance to small- and
medium-sized
enterprise borrowers. See “Other risks relating to our business—The ongoing global pandemic of
COVID-19
and any possible recurrence of other types of widespread infectious diseases may adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.” Such initiatives include the provision of new loans to borrowers with low credit ratings, extension of maturity dates for existing loans and suspension of interest payment obligations for an extended period of time. Our participation in such
government-led
initiatives may lead us to extend credit to
small-
and
medium-sized
enterprise borrowers that we would not otherwise extend, or offer terms for such credit that we would not otherwise offer, in the absence of such initiatives. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the financial condition and liquidity position of our
small-
and
medium-sized
enterprise borrowers benefiting from such initiatives will improve sufficiently for them to service their debt on a timely basis, or at all. Accordingly, increases in our exposure to
small-
and
medium-sized
enterprise borrowers resulting from such
government-led
initiatives may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
A substantial part of our small- and
medium-sized
enterprise lending comprises loans to “small office/home office” customers, or SOHOs. SOHOs, which we currently define to include sole proprietorships and individual business interests, are usually dependent on a limited number of suppliers or customers. SOHOs tend to be affected to a greater extent than larger corporate borrowers by fluctuations in the Korean economy. In addition, SOHOs often maintain less sophisticated financial records than other corporate borrowers. Although we continue to make efforts to improve our internally developed credit rating systems to rate potential borrowers, particularly with respect to SOHOs, and intend to manage our exposure to these borrowers closely in order to prevent any deterioration in the asset quality of our loans to this segment, we may not be able to do so as intended.
In addition, many small- and
medium-sized
enterprises have close business relationships with the largest Korean commercial conglomerates, known as “
”, primarily as suppliers. Any difficulties encountered by those
would likely hurt the liquidity and financial condition of related small- and
medium-sized
enterprises, including those to which we have exposure, also resulting in an impairment of their ability to repay loans.
In recent years, we have taken measures which sought to stem rising delinquencies in our loans to
small-
and
medium-sized
enterprises, including through strengthening of the review of loan applications and closer monitoring of the
post-loan
performance of
small-
and
medium-sized
enterprise borrowers in industry sectors that are relatively more sensitive to downturns in the economy and have shown higher delinquency ratios, such as shipping, construction, lodging, retail and wholesale, restaurants and real estate. Despite such efforts, however, there is no assurance that delinquency levels of our loans to
small-
and
medium-sized
enterprises will not rise in the future. In particular, financial difficulties experienced by small- and
medium-sized
enterprises as a result of, among other things, adverse economic conditions in Korea and globally, could have an adverse impact on the ability of small- and
medium-sized
enterprises to make payments on our loans. For example, the ongoing
COVID-19
pandemic has had a significant adverse impact on the Korean and global economy, which in turn has