May 02, 2024

• 

[THE INVESTOR] Korean savings banks’ household lending has soared nearly 20 percent over the past year to top the 20 trillion-won (US$18.30 billion) mark, central bank data showed on Nov. 23.

Savings banks’ outstanding household loans stood at 20.6 trillion won as of end-September, up 19.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.

Amid softer property regulations and easier access to credit, such loans had been growing at a fast clip since 2013, with the amount nearly doubling over the past three years to 17.2 trillion won as of end-2016.

Analysts attributed the jump to a set of government measures to cool an overheating housing market and thus curb snowballing household debt, which prompted those with poor credit to turn from commercial lenders to savings banks.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)