□ Event: The 12th Busan Financial Hub Forum
□ Date: November 20, 2024 (Wednesday), 14:00–17:00
□ Location: Meeting Room 530, Busan Station, Korea Railroad Corporation
□ Host: Busan Finance Center
□ Attendees: Financial Supervisory Service, Bank of Korea, Experts from member institutions, academia, and industry
□ Topic: Promoting Private Finance through KRW-based Ship Financing

Director Dong-Hae Lee of the Maritime Finance Center highlighted the challenges faced by private financial institutions in managing foreign currency liquidity and the disadvantages of funding interest rates as key reasons for their withdrawal from the ship finance market. As a solution, he proposed a structured implementation of KRW-based ship finance.

The feasibility of applying KRW-based ship finance was reviewed among the stakeholders involved in ship financing, including banks, shipping companies, shipbuilders, and cargo owners. The potential market size was estimated at 2-3 trillion KRW annually. It is expected that this initiative would invigorate the participation of private banks in ship financing and provide opportunities for quality KRW-based lending participation in the domestic capital market.