Lee's inclusive growth drive pressures banks, raises questions about fairness

President Lee Jae Myung’s push for inclusive growth is pressuring banks, with questions lingering about fairness as well as the erosion of free market principles, market watchers said Monday. Central to the criticism is his repeated calls to cut interest rates for low-credit borrowers, a group of people required to pay higher rates in the current system, which he characterized as a “financial caste system.” This take has fueled debate about whether commercial lenders should continue to bear the burden and whether borrowers with relatively strong credit scores are being unfairly discriminated against despite their record of timely debt repayments. The debate followed Lee’s comment that banks should use part of their profits to support vulnerable borrowers — a step he said was crucial for expanding the role of finance, which has long been limited to government-backed programs such as "sunshine loans." These public-guarantee-mediated loans reduce interest rates by shifting default risk to the government, thereby allowing greater loan opportunities for vulnerable borrowers. FinanciWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times