Former Agriculture Vice Minister Han Hoon Appointed New Chairman of Korea Credit Safeguard (KCS)

Korea Credit Bureau (KCS), a specialized credit rating agency for full-time individual business owners, announced a new leap forward by appointing Han Hoon, former Vice Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, as its new Chairman of the Board. Chairman Han is considered a traditional policy expert who has held key positions across the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF). Since entering public service through the civil service examination in 1991, he has served as Director of Private Investment Policy Division and Director of Knowledge Economy Budget Division, and held various key positions such as Financial and Economic Counselor at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Japan, Director-General for Policy Planning at the Ministry of Education, and Chief Planner at the Presidential Committee on Job Creation. In particular, after returning to the MOEF, he held positions such as Director-General for Innovative Growth Policy, Director-General for Policy Coordination, Deputy Minister for Budget and Economic Affairs, and Assistant Minister, deeply involving himself in overall economic policy. In May 2022, he was appointed Commissioner of Statistics Korea, and the following year, he was elected Vice-Chair of the UN Statistical Commission, demonstrating international leadership in the field of statistics. Subsequently, after serving as Vice Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, he concluded his public service last year. During his tenure at the MOEF, he was selected three times by his colleagues as a 'boss to emulate', and is known as a leader with excellent communication skills, enough to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Accepting the position of Chairman of the KCS Board of Directors, Chairman Han stated, "It is an honor to serve as the Chairman of KCS, which is at the core of the Korea Credit Data community." He emphasized that during his time as Commissioner of Statistics Korea, he established a connection with Korea Credit Data through a collaboration that involved providing real-time data on small business owners to Statistics Korea's Nowcast. He expressed his ambition, saying, "I will help ensure that necessary financial services are provided to small business owners based on their real-time data." KCS operates 'Credit Note', a credit rating service for individual business owners, contributing to improving financial accessibility for small business owners. In particular, the '3-minute Credit Rating Certificate Issuance Service', which allows individual business owners to check their credit rating within 3 minutes simply by authenticating through Hometax, dramatically shortens the issuance time from the previous 3-4 days, providing great convenience to individual business owners. Recognizing its innovativeness and expertise, KCS secured new investment from Hana Bank this year, and is strengthening its credibility by securing a total of six bank shareholders, including KB Kookmin Bank, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, IM Bank, JB Jeonbuk Bank, and KakaoBank. Furthermore, major financial institutions related to small business owners and individual business owners, such as SGI Seoul Guarantee, Hyundai Capital, and Welcome Savings Bank, are participating as shareholders and expanding their scope of cooperation by actively incorporating KCS's credit rating models and data into their evaluations, which is expected to have a positive ripple effect on the small business owner financial ecosystem in the future.