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Insurance firms' lending down in Q1

Published: 26 May. 2025, 10:20

The Financial Supervisory Service headquarters in Yeouido, southern Seoul [YONHAP]

Loans extended by insurance companies in Korea fell in the first quarter of the year amid high interest rates and tightened lending rules, data showed Monday.

Insurers' outstanding loans had reached 267.8 trillion won ($195.5 billion) as of the end of March, down 0.8 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

The reading also marks a 1.8 trillion-won fall from three months earlier.

The on-year decrease was attributed to a decline in loans extended to businesses.

Household lending had stood at 134.9 trillion won as of the end of March, up 1.2 trillion won from a year before, while corporate lending shrank by 2 trillion won to 132.8 trillion won over the cited period.

The loan delinquency rate, which measures the proportion of loan principal or interest unpaid for at least a month, stood at 0.66 percent at the end of March, up 0.12 percent from a year earlier, according to the financial watchdog.

The rate of insurers' nonperforming loans came to 0.91 percent at the end of March, up 0.15 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.

Yonhap