Insurers' lending grows 8% in Q2

Loans extended by insurance companies in South Korea rose 8 percent on-year in the second quarter, led by gains in home-backed lending and corporate loans, the financial watchdog said Tuesday.

Insurers' outstanding loans totaled 260.3 trillion won ($225 billion) as of end-June, compared with 240.9 trillion won the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Their loans to households rose 6.5 trillion won on-year to 126.6 trillion won as of end-June as the extension of home-backed lending increased amid rising housing prices.

Lending to companies amounted to 133.5 trillion won as of end-June, up 12.9 trillion won from a year earlier.

The loan delinquency rate, which measures the proportion of loan principal or unpaid interest for at least a month, came to 0.17 percent in March, down 0.05 percentage point from a year earlier.

The ratio of nonperforming loans came to 0.14 percent, up 0.02 percentage point from a year ago, the FSS said.

Yonhap