Household loans by South Korean banks rise in April

A series of IPOs in April and May helped push up credit loan volumes.

Household loans in South Korea across all financial sectors rose by KRW4.1t ($2.99b) n April compared to a month earlier, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Banks extended KRW5.1t ($3.72b) in household loans, which the FSS attributed to changes in the types of loans counted in its statistics. Mortgage loans by banks rose by KRW3.6t in April. 

A series of initial public offerings scheduled in April and May also helped push up the volume of credit loans temporarily.

Non-banks, however, saw the number of household loans extended fall by KRW1t. Although the pace of decline was smaller than in March (when it fell KRW3.3t), it extended the overall trend of declines since the second half of 2022.

Mutual finance businesses dragged down the non-bank statistics, and not even growth in the specialised credit finance companies, savings banks, and insurance companies saw their credit loans rise.

Other types of loans went up by KRW0.03t over the same period, with the banking sector seeing a KRW0.6t increase, offset by the non-banking sector seeing loan volumes decline by KRW2.8t.