BUSAN — Busan is widening a maritime finance cooperation framework that has been run mainly by policy finance institutions to include private-sector lenders and the shipping industry itself. The city plans to connect financing needs arising in shipping, shipbuilding and other industries with a broader range of tools, including investment, insurance and asset management.
The city said it will hold a regular meeting of the Busan Maritime Finance Development Council at the Busan International Finance Center (BIFC II) on the 15th to discuss ways to develop maritime finance and strengthen cooperation among institutions. About 40 participants will attend, including officials from the Korea Maritime Finance Center, the Korea Ocean Business Corporation and other major policy finance institutions, as well as shipping industry groups.
Three new members will join the council: the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund's Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam regional headquarters, Shinhan Bank's SOL Cluster Busan and the Korea Shipowners' Mutual Protection & Indemnity Association (KP&I). With credit guarantee, commercial banking and shipowners' mutual insurance added to the policy finance institutions already involved, the city says it aims to build a cooperation base that spans the entire maritime finance ecosystem, from raising funds to guarantees and insurance.
The council's structure will also expand from four working panels to five. The new Shipping Industry Panel, created this year, will include private companies working in ship brokerage, asset management, investment, insurance and fractional investment. The aim is to move away from a one-way structure in which financial institutions simply supply capital to industry, and instead identify financing needs directly at shipping sites and develop new financial products and cooperation models.
The meeting will also cover the city government's maritime finance policy direction under the city's current mayoral administration (its ninth popularly elected term), along with the potential use of new financing methods. Ko Byung-wook, a research fellow at the Korea Maritime Institute, will present a paper on maritime finance strategies for achieving the current mayoral administration's (ninth popularly elected term) vision of Busan as a maritime capital. KDX will then introduce a fractional investment trading platform and propose ways to link fractional investment with maritime finance.
The discussions are seen as an attempt to expand maritime finance beyond traditional ship financing into investment, asset management, insurance and newer financial instruments. The city believes Busan's competitiveness in maritime finance can move up a level if it improves access to investment in vessels and shipping-related assets and creates a structure capable of attracting diverse private capital.
Using the council as a starting point, the city plans to strengthen information sharing and networking among institutions while identifying concrete joint projects that link shipping, investment, asset management, insurance and fractional investment. In particular, it intends to use the new Shipping Industry Panel to reflect on-the-ground demand in policy and to reinforce the link between finance and actual corporate growth and investment.
Lee Dong-yeop, the city's director of finance and startup policy, said: "For Busan to emerge as a maritime capital and a global hub for maritime finance, close ties with industries such as shipping and shipbuilding matter as much as ties with financial institutions." The official added that the city will "actively reflect the voices of private companies through the Shipping Industry Panel and develop this into a cooperation framework that connects the maritime industry with finance and produces tangible results."
