[Young Journalist Minkyeol Kim] Small business owners with low credit scores or limited financial transaction histories will have greater access to bank loans if their businesses demonstrate strong growth potential based on factors such as sales and commercial district conditions. A new credit evaluation system that incorporates non-financial information, including sales, business type, and commercial district characteristics, into the existing credit assessment process for individual business owners has officially entered its pilot phase.

On September 2, the Financial Services Commission announced that Chairman Lee Eok-won visited the Gwanghwamun branch of IBK Industrial Bank of Korea in Seoul to inspect the pilot operation of the Small Business Credit Bureau (SCB).

SCB is a credit evaluation system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze non-financial information such as sales, industry, and commercial district to assess the future growth potential of small business owners. The key is to use the project’s own competitiveness and growth potential, which were difficult to properly reflect in traditional credit evaluations, in loan screening.

The evaluation will also utilize ▲ sales and business history ▲ business continuity ▲ number of employees ▲ customer awareness and demand ▲ information on visits and repeat visits to the distribution platform, among other factors. Small business owners with higher grades can receive a higher growth-based credit rating than their existing credit rating, potentially receiving benefits such as loan approval, increased loan limits, and lower interest rates.

There was even a case in a prior pre-loan review where a small business owner, who had difficulty obtaining a loan based solely on their existing credit evaluation, secured a loan through SCB. A business owner in his 40s who runs a coffee shop was a so-called “thin-file” with limited financial transaction history and was initially denied a loan after receiving a credit rating of 7 on the existing credit evaluation, but was approved for a loan after SCB recognized the business’s growth potential and repayment ability, raising the rating to 6.

A business owner in their 30s who operates an online platform franchise store received a high SCB rating and was able to use business funds at an interest rate in the 3% range after receiving an additional 1.0 percentage point interest rate reduction. There were also cases where additional loan limits were recognized for operating funds or the purchase of new machinery and equipment.

The number of banks applying SCB is also increasing rapidly. Starting from the 31st of last month, eight banks including KB Kookmin, IBK Industrial, NH Nonghyup, Busan, Shinhan, Woori, Jeju, and Hana Banks began a pilot operation. In the second half of this year, eight additional banks—including Gyeongnam Bank, Gwangju Bank, Suhyup Bank, iM Bank, and Jeonbuk Bank—as well as Kakao Bank, K Bank, and Toss Bank are expected to join.

Accordingly, the number of banks participating in the pilot operation will increase from the original 7 to 16, and the loan amount subject to the SCB will also expand from 1.8 trillion won to 2.2 trillion won.

Since announcing the plan to introduce SCBs in April, the Financial Services Commission has revised the credit information business supervision regulations and the banking sector’s credit review guidelines for loans to individual business owners, and prepared separate operational guidelines that include ways to utilize SCBs and standards for discharge.

Chairman Lee Eok-won said, "The introduction of a small business-specialized credit evaluation system that assesses growth potential based on non-financial data such as ▲revenue▲industry▲commercial district▲business characteristics, which were difficult to reflect in the existing credit evaluation system focused on financial transaction history, aligns with the purpose of inclusive finance."

The Financial Services Commission plans to expand the SCB to small business loan products across the entire banking sector after analyzing its results following about a one-year pilot operation through the second half of next year. The Saetdol loan, exclusively for sole proprietors and scheduled for release this October, and SCB are also planned to be used next year in the guarantee review and evaluation of regional credit guarantee foundations.

▶원문 기사: “신용점수 낮아도 매출 좋으면 대출”…소상공인 대출 문턱 낮아진다

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