Chairman Kim Joo-hyun of the Financial Services Commission met with a group of SMEs and officials from the banking sector on April 5 and held talks on the financial support program made available from the banking sector. During the meeting, Chairman Kim stressed the importance of SMEs as the backbone of our economy, and said that there are now three different types of financing support programs made available from the banking sector that are intended to help the SMEs experiencing difficulties to make a quick turnaround. As there are concerns about continuing challenges due to high interest rates, Chairman Kim said that authorities will set up a consultative group to more closely look into the challenges and difficulties facing SMEs. At the end of this month, the FSC plans to launch a consultative group on SMEs made up of experts from both the public and private sector research institutions.