KB Kookmin and BNK Kyongnam Banks Top 2025 Second-Half Technology Finance Evaluation

Outstanding Balance of Technology Finance Rises to 318.7 Trillion Won

KB Kookmin Bank and BNK Kyongnam Bank ranked first in the large and small leagues, respectively, in the technology finance evaluation for the second half of last year.

The Financial Services Commission announced on June 19 that it held a Tech Evaluation Committee meeting on June 17 and approved the results of the 2025 second-half technology finance evaluation.

The Financial Supervisory Service and Korea Credit Information Services evaluate banks' technology finance supply performance every six months to ensure the stable supply and management of technology finance. In the evaluation, KB Kookmin Bank ranked first and NongHyup Bank second in the large league. In the small league, BNK Kyongnam Bank took the top spot, with BNK Busan Bank coming in second.

The scale of technology finance has also continued to grow. The outstanding balance of technology finance rose from 302.8 trillion won in 2024 to 318.7 trillion won in 2025. This is interpreted as a result of increased new supply led by major banks and the advancement of technology finance infrastructure at each bank.

Banks offer preferential interest rates to companies utilizing technology finance. Technology finance loans are applied with an interest rate that is, on average, 0.2 percentage points lower than general SME loans, thus improving financial accessibility for small and mid-sized enterprises.

In the quality assessment, eCredible received an "Excellent" rating among technology credit rating agencies. Among banks capable of conducting their own technology credit evaluations, Shinhan Bank, Hana Bank, and IM Bank also received "Excellent" ratings.

As each evaluation institution has established internal regulations and dedicated organizations for technology evaluation, the overall quality management system has improved. Accordingly, all 14 evaluation institutions received a rating of "Good" or higher in the first half of 2025. However, due to differences in the capability of evaluation personnel and whether a duplicate inspection system is in place at each institution, the number of institutions with an "Excellent" rating decreased by one compared to the previous half-year.

An official from the Financial Services Commission stated, "We will continue to focus on expanding funding through technology finance to strengthen technological innovation, domestic R&D, and intellectual property (IP) capabilities of small and mid-sized enterprises," and added, "To further expand productive finance, we plan to identify new initiatives to vitalize technology finance and prepare system improvement measures in the second half of this year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.