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| From left, Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Bok-hyun, Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok and Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo pose after signing a memorandum of understanding to support small and medium-sized enterprises with environmental, social and corporate governance efforts at Hana Financial Group Global Campus in Incheon, Thursday. Courtesy of Hana Financial Group |
By Yoon Ja-young
Hana Financial Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Incheon Metropolitan City and Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) efforts.
In the first collaboration between a financial company and a local government to support SMEs' ESG efforts, they agreed to share information, provide advice and hold education sessions and seminars related to ESG.
The agreement aims to strengthen the competitiveness of SMEs in exports by supporting them with ESG efforts.
Incheon will be in charge of selecting SMEs located in the city that are in need of ESG support. The financial regulator will share its know-how and plan and control the overall procedure to get the most out of the MOU.
Hana Financial Group, meanwhile, will be providing ESG consulting to SMEs, including evaluating the current status of their ESG management and suggesting solutions.
As ESG is also becoming crucial in supply chains, Hana will support the SMEs with carbon emission measurements as well as checking whether they are meeting requirements in sectors such as work environment.
By taking such preemptive measures, SMEs are expected to minimize fallout from new regulations in supply chains. The FSS and Hana Financial Group, meanwhile, can also expect to minimize potential delinquency risks of loans offered to SMEs by offering them practical help in coping with global ESG regulations.
"Recently, ESG management is getting more important than ever with governments around the world requiring disclosure of corporate ESG information and positively evaluating firms focusing on ethical management," Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok said. The MOU will help strengthen the competitiveness of exporters and equip SMEs with medium- to long-term sustainability."
"The MOU will not only improve SMEs' expertise in coping with supply chain issues but also enhance their awareness of ESG management. The FSS will continue supporting the financial industry and businesses in diverse ways so they can more actively cope with the ESG regulation," FSS Governor Lee Bok-hyun said.
"With the global expansion of ESG management, SMEs are having trouble as they are also required to cope with the issue. Hana Financial Group will spare no efforts in supporting SMEs to overcome this problem," Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo said.
Hana Bank launched a sustainability-linked loan for SMEs in July, supporting them with funding worth 500 billion won ($379 million).
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