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| Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul / Yonhap |
By Lee Min-hyung
Hana Bank established a fund worth 30 billion won ($23 million) to support the socially vulnerable suffering from escalating financial pressures caused by recent energy price hikes, the lender said Sunday.
The bank's labor and management set up the joint fund to help those in need, helping to reduce the financial burden on vulnerable debtors and around 150,000 of the lender's customers, it said.
The move is part of the bank's efforts to regain the trust of customers during this period of financial volatility amid steep rate hikes. This year, utility prices ― including gas and electricity bills ― have soared at an alarming pace due to lingering inflationary effects. Understandably, this came as a serious financial burden to most households, as few expected the sudden price hikes.
"We will fulfill a healthy role as a representative lender operating customer-oriented services," Hana Bank CEO Lee Seung-yeul said. "Hana Bank will also establish a culture of co-prosperity between labor and management, and spare no efforts in becoming more socially responsible and helping overcome the economic difficulties that society faces."
A leader of the lender's union also pledged more efforts to help customers overcome financial challenges.
"We hope the fund is sent to financially vulnerable groups, so they can have a warm winter," said Yoon Seok-goo, chief of Hana Bank's union.
Earlier, Hana Bank introduced a special one-year program for vulnerable debtors. Under the program, customers, who took out the Sunshine Loan, will be able to receive 1 percent of their loan balance in cash. The target beneficiaries are those in the low-income bracket, as only those groups can apply for the loan product that the government specially designed.
Customers who can benefit from the program will receive the cash benefit each month via Hana Money which can then be cashed out.
