S. Korean banks’ household lending rises for 5th month in August

SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) — South Korean banks’ household lending rose for the fifth straight month due to robust demand for mortgage loan, central bank data showed Wednesday.
Debt owed by households to deposit-taking banks expanded 9.3 trillion won (6.9 billion U.S. dollars) from a month earlier to 1,130 trillion won (844 billion dollars) at the end of August, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It continued to increase since April on expectations for policy rate cuts by the end of this year.
The BOK had left its policy rate unchanged at 3.50 percent since January last year after raising it by 3.0 percentage points for the past one and a half years.
Banks’ mortgage loan surged 8.2 trillion won (6.1 billion dollars) last month on eased regulations to prop up housing prices.
It marked the fastest monthly expansion since relevant data began to be compiled in 2004.
Other loans to households, including credit loan, credit line and commercial real estate-backed loan, grew 1.1 trillion won (821.6 million dollars) last month.
Banks’ corporate loan came in at 1,311.9 trillion won (979.9 billion dollars) at the end of August, up 7.2 trillion won (5.4 billion dollars) from a month earlier.
Lending to big companies added 1.9 trillion won (1.4 billion dollars), and loan to small firms swelled 5.3 trillion won (4 billion dollars) last month. ■