Woori Bank, South Korea’s third-largest commercial lender in terms of operating profit, said Wednesday that it will allocate 3 trillion won ($2.7 billion) to supporting midsized enterprises by 2022.

The bank unveiled its road map during a business summit at Seoul’s Plaza Hotel, an event hosted jointly with the Association of High Potential Enterprises of Korea.

Announcing a mid-term plan named “Great Vision 2022,” Woori Bank pledged to create a financial package worth about 3 trillion won, which includes offering a maximum amount of 30 billion won each for individual midsized enterprises, and increasing direct investment for firms with innovative technology.

The event was attended by some 300 industry officials including Woori Bank CEO Sohn Tae-seung, Yu Jeoung-yeol, director of industry and enterprise innovation at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency CEO Kwon Pyung-oh.
 

“Midsized businesses are new growth momentum agents that will steer the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ and create quality jobs along the way,” Woori Bank chief Sohn said.

“Our plan is to actively support the growth of such innovative midsized companies and to help them evolve into global business players.”

Woori Bank is set to adopt a financial group starting January next year, reviving the holding company structure five years after its dissolution in 2014. The bank’s current CEO Sohn will serve as group chairman as well, until a shareholders meeting in March 2020.

The bank reclaimed its No. 3 position in the domestic banking circle in the second quarter of this year and maintained its status in the following quarter, closing in on No. 2 KEB Hana Bank.

During the July-September period this year, the bank recorded operating profit of 765.8 billion won, up 141 percent from the previous quarter, and net profit of 604.5 billion won, up 113.3 percent from the previous quarter.

Its accumulated operating profit and net profit stood at 2.6 trillion won and 1.9 trillion won, respectively, up 43 percent and 38 percent from the same period last year.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)