Banks' loan delinquency rate edges up in April

Published : May 31, 2016 - 15:03 Updated : May 31, 2016 - 15:06

The delinquency rate for loans extended by South Korean banks edged up in April from a month earlier as some loans extended to households and businesses turned sour, government data showed Tuesday.

The average delinquency rate for bank loans stood at 0.64 percent at the end of April, up 0.01 percentage point from a month earlier, the Financial Supervisory Service said in a statement.

Financial Supervisory Service (Yonhap)

Year-on-year, the figure fell 0.12 percentage points from 0.76 percent, it said.

Loans with both the principal and interest overdue by one month or more are considered delinquent.

The increase came as 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion) worth of loans turned sour last month, while 1.2 trillion won in debt was written off, the statement said.

The overall overdue rate for corporate loans gained 0.01 percentage point on-month to 0.87 percent in April. The delinquency rate for household loans stood at 0.36 percent, edging up 0.02 percentage points from the previous month, the FSS said.

The outstanding amount of won-denominated loans extended to households, businesses and others reached 1,380.0 trillion won at end-April, up 10.6 trillion won from the previous month, it said. (Yonhap)