Woori Financial Group will contribute an additional 100 billion won to the Woori Smile Microfinance Foundation and launch and supply the Youth Future Link Loan for unemployed and newly employed young adults from March 31. It plans to roll out Sae Hope Store, a social contribution programme to support young entrepreneurs, and expand the foundation’s branches mainly in regional areas.

Woori Financial attended the Financial Services Commission-led third meeting on a “major transformation to inclusive finance” on March 23 and announced an “inclusive finance strengthening plan” with these measures.

To ensure stable supply of microfinance for low-income households, Woori Financial decided to contribute an additional 100 billion won to the Woori Smile Microfinance Foundation, a cooperative body with the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency. Based on this, it plans to increase annual supply to around 20 billion won by 2028 and raise the share related to youth to as much as 50 percent.

The Youth Future Link Loan, to be supplied from March 31, mainly targets young people such as high school graduates and unemployed people who have no income or lack a financial history, making it difficult to use the existing Sunshine Loan Youth programme.

Woori Financial also plans to expand the microfinance foundation’s branches mainly in regional areas and relocate some branches to traditional markets and other areas with many small businesses to strengthen on-site support. It will also add staff with extensive lending experience and build a tailored financial counselling system.

To help microfinance customers enter the formal financial system, it plans to link Woori Bank’s NEW Stepping Stone Loan, which is scheduled to be launched, and provide an interest rate benefit of 0.5 percentage point.

Separately, it will expand non-face-to-face application channels to simplify debt restructuring application procedures and introduce visiting counselling services for digitally vulnerable groups such as older people. Sae Hope Store, a social contribution programme to support young entrepreneurs, will also be pursued.

A Woori Financial official said it is continuing to implement its plan to strengthen inclusive finance. The official said the group will strengthen support focused on youth and regional areas and expand support to help financially vulnerable groups build a foundation for self-reliance.