South Korea’s household credit rose to near 900 trillion won
South Korea’s household credit rose to near 900 trillion won (US$ 789.5 billion) in the third quarter, but quarterly growth slowed on the regulator’s move to curb home debt, the central bank said Monday.
Household credit totaled a record 892.5 trillion won as of the end of September, up 16.2 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Third-quarter growth slowed from the 18.9 trillion won on-quarter expansion tallied in the second quarter, but the aggregate household credit hit a fresh record high last quarter on sustained lending growth.
Household credit refers to credit purchases and loans for households extended by financial institutions, including commercial lenders and mutual savings banks.
“The regulator’s steps to curb household debt made the growth pace of household credit slow last quarter,” Park Seung-hwan, head of the BOK’s monetary & financial statistic team, told reporters.
Park said, however, that the on-year growth of household credit has stayed at around 9 percent each quarter of this year and that trend may continue into the fourth quarter.
Household lending by banks and non-bank depositary institutions totaled 628.6 trillion won as of end-September, up 10.8 trillion won from three months earlier.
Household loans extended by financial firms including insurers and card firms expanded 4.2 trillion won on-quarter to 212.3 trillion won in the third quarter. The third-quarter growth accelerated from a 2.2 trillion won gain in the second quarter, an indication that Financial Services Commission regulations on bank home loans prompted more people to rely on non-bank institutions.
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