I heard DH Park from IWL partners, Korea, speak at the IIX/Shujog Impact Forum 2012 in Singapore about how he wanted to change the attitude of banks. With a Government that hadn’t issued a licence for a new bank in over 20 years, IWL bought 100% of the shares in W Savings Bank and began to deliver their philosophy “bank with love”. One of his initiatives was the Pinocchio loan – a loan to employed people with low credit rating. The interest rate for the loan is high, around 45%. The rate reduces if repayments are early and increases if they are late. This was partly in response to the rate of suicide in South Korea which has doubled in the last 10 years, with a third of suicides related to financial difficulty.
Emma Tomkinson 