Hana Bank said on Jan. 29 it will implement the “Haetsal Loan interest cashback” programme to help reduce financial burdens on low-income and vulnerable groups.

The programme is one of the measures to expand inclusive finance announced at the first meeting on a major shift toward inclusive finance, held on Jan. 8 at the Suwon Branch of the Integrated Support Center for Microfinance. It targets new customers taking out Haetsal Loan special guarantee and general guarantee loans. For 1 year from the loan start date, it converts about 2 percent of the outstanding loan balance into a monthly amount and returns it in cash each month.

Haetsal Loan is a representative microfinance product. The interest rate is determined by adding the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency guarantee fee rate, up to 6.5 percent, and the bank interest rate of 6 percent. With the rollout of the interest cashback programme, in addition to the agency’s recent cut in its guarantee fee rate, it is expected to effectively further reduce the bank interest rate, doubling efforts to ease financial burdens on low-income and vulnerable groups.

An official at Hana Bank’s Inclusive Finance Product Department said, “Starting with this interest cashback programme, we will continue to identify and 추진 inclusive finance new businesses so that low-income and vulnerable groups can access funds smoothly at lower costs within the formal financial system.”