Woori Financial Group said on Monday it will set up a 500 billion won "Woori Regional Development Infrastructure Fund" to expand investment in renewable energy and national strategic infrastructure. The fund was created to align with the government’s push for balanced regional growth and to meet major policy directions, including the five hubs and three special zones state agenda, fostering advanced strategic industries and carbon neutrality.

Woori Financial Group plans to use the fund to shift money that had flowed into real estate and collateral-focused lending into the real economy outside the Seoul metropolitan area. It aims to invest more than 70 percent of total assets in infrastructure for balanced regional growth and, through a link with the National Growth Fund, boost synergy between policy finance and private finance.

Key investment targets are the Haenam solar power project and the Gochang offshore wind power project. It plans to actively expand productive finance through those investments.

The "Haenam 400 MW solar power project," the largest in South Korea, is a project that aligns with government policies such as the Nationally Determined Contribution greenhouse gas reduction targets and RE100. It supports power supply to the Solaseado AI supercluster in Haenam County and is expected to contribute by using 100 percent domestically produced equipment and materials, increasing farm income and helping counter regional depopulation through attracting companies.

The "Gochang 76.2 MW offshore wind power project" is a privately participated project 추진되는 ahead of the creation of an offshore wind expansion complex in the southwest region. It will be carried out with resident participation, return profits to local communities and is expected to supply eco-friendly power to advanced strategic industries being promoted by North Jeolla Special Self-Governing Province and Gochang County.

Woori Financial Group is also reviewing investments in various areas, including social overhead capital for balanced regional development such as local expressways, environmental infrastructure such as sewage treatment facilities, and advanced digital infrastructure projects.

The fund is set to begin bringing assets into the portfolio in earnest from next month. Woori Financial Group plans to develop the fund not as a simple profit-making tool but as a strategic financial platform, building a virtuous cycle in which production, employment and investment are linked within regions.

The fund is an infrastructure-only blind fund fully capitalised jointly by Woori Financial affiliates, including its bank, insurance and securities units. Woori Asset Management will be solely responsible for management, including investment decisions and execution.

Wang Je-yeon (왕제연), deputy general manager of the Infrastructure Finance Department at Woori Bank, said the fund will be a representative infrastructure investment model that practices productive finance on the basis of policy alignment and long-term stability. He said Woori Financial will support regional industry and infrastructure growth through a link with the National Growth Fund and develop it into its "Future Shared Growth Project" as a way to practice productive finance, contributing to balanced national development.