이 기사는 2019년 11월 19일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank), which joined the bell's 2019 Korean Corporate Global IR, has promoted its high-quality credit profile backed by government financing as well as growth potential supported by strong capital position.

Park Hyo-jin, Senior Research Officer of Treasury Group at Eximbank, pitched the bank's overall business and the quality of its credit profile in front of institutional investors from all over the world at the Korean Corporate Global IR hosted by the bell at Andaz Singapore on November 7.

Eximbank is one of the leading issuers of Korean paper, which refer to foreign currency debt issued by South Korean entities abroad. Being classified in the category of SSAs (Sovereign, Supranational & Agencies) and backed by government financing, the bank enjoys an AA-level credit rating, equivalent to that of the South Korean government. Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch assigned Aa2, AA0 and AA- to Eximbank, respectively.

Serving as the country's official export credit agency (ECA), the bank not only offers loans to support domestic importers, exporters and overseas investments, but also provides the financial and performance guarantee. As such, the government provides frequent capital injections to Eximbank.

"Funds from the government increased by 4.8 trillion won ($4.1 billion) for six years after 2012. The bank's capital adequacy ratio has also been improved thanks to a regular funding injection from the government," said Park. Indeed, the bank's BIS ratio reached 14.4 percent at the end of March, up from 11.6 percent in 2012.

Eximbank, as an export credit agency, supports the Moon administration's export promotion policies such as New Southern Policy and New Northern Policy. The bank provided 600 million euros and 600 million dollars in financing to Turkey and Uzbekistan, respectively, for the construction of a bridge and gas-to-liquid (GTL) plant.

Supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is also one of the critical parts of the bank's business. The number of SMEs supported by Eximbank increased to 3220 in 2018 from 1641 in 2016, while loans provided to SMEs also jumped to 9.8 trillion won from 8.3 trillion won over the same period.

Eximbank raises most of the proceeds for its overseas business activity by issuing bonds abroad in foreign currency. Among its annual foreign-currency debt funding amounting to a total of 10 billion dollars, about 95 percent are bonds and the rest are bank loans.

This year Eximbank has continued to raise money in various currencies, including euros, Australian dollars and the U.S. dollars. The bank has also become the first among the country's companies that issued its maiden peso-denominated bond in the Mexican debt market this summer, as part of its ongoing efforts to diversity funding sources.

"Eximbank is the first export credit agency that issued a sovereign bond in the Mexican debt market. [We] have continuously raised money in the global debt market," said Park. She added that the bank was also planning to raise about 10 billion dollars next year.

(By reporter Pi Hye-rim)