ID :
207907
Mon, 09/19/2011 - 05:58
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/207907
The shortlink copeid
Bank household loans fall in Sept.
SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- The size of South Korea's household loans declined this month as local banks refrained from extending home loans under pressure from financial regulators who have raised alarm bells about rising debt, data showed Monday.
Household loans offered by top lender Kookmin Bank and three other banks reached 276.6 trillion won (US$249.6 billion) as of Sept. 15, down 407.3 billion won from the end of August, according to industry data.
Banks' credit loans came to 58.7 trillion won as of Thursday, down 461.7 billion won from the end of last month as local banks aggressively tried to reduce the lending not backed by collateral.
A fall in home loans came as South Korea is struggling to curb snowballing household debt of 876 trillion won by tightening banks' loan-to-deposit ratios and mending banks' lending practices.
But despite such efforts, home loans extended their gains on the back of lending from non-bank institutions.
Several local banks halted the extension of fresh home loans in August, a move seen as meeting the watchdog's unofficial guideline that sets the monthly growth of household loans to around 0.6 percent.
As their leeway to increase household loans has been curtailed, local banks expanded lending to large firms this month in a bid to raise assets.
Banks' lending to large companies amounted to 58.9 trillion won as of Sept. 15, up 1 trillion won or 1.7 percent from the end of August, according to the data. Loans given to smaller companies, meanwhile, rose 0.3 percent to 209 trillion won in the same period.
Household loans offered by top lender Kookmin Bank and three other banks reached 276.6 trillion won (US$249.6 billion) as of Sept. 15, down 407.3 billion won from the end of August, according to industry data.
Banks' credit loans came to 58.7 trillion won as of Thursday, down 461.7 billion won from the end of last month as local banks aggressively tried to reduce the lending not backed by collateral.
A fall in home loans came as South Korea is struggling to curb snowballing household debt of 876 trillion won by tightening banks' loan-to-deposit ratios and mending banks' lending practices.
But despite such efforts, home loans extended their gains on the back of lending from non-bank institutions.
Several local banks halted the extension of fresh home loans in August, a move seen as meeting the watchdog's unofficial guideline that sets the monthly growth of household loans to around 0.6 percent.
As their leeway to increase household loans has been curtailed, local banks expanded lending to large firms this month in a bid to raise assets.
Banks' lending to large companies amounted to 58.9 trillion won as of Sept. 15, up 1 trillion won or 1.7 percent from the end of August, according to the data. Loans given to smaller companies, meanwhile, rose 0.3 percent to 209 trillion won in the same period.
