S. Korean banks' loan delinquency rate rises in Aug.

The delinquency rate for loans extended by South Korean banks rose in August from a month earlier due to a rise in soured loans extended to companies and households, the financial watchdog said Friday.
  

The average delinquency rate of bank loans stood at 0.76 percent at the end of August, up 0.07 percentage point from a month earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
  

From a year earlier, the figure dropped 0.2 percentage point from 0.96 percent, it added.
  

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

Over the cited period, 1.9 trillion won ($1.6 billion) worth of loans turned sour, with 900 billion won worth of debts written off, the FSS said.
  

Those loans extended to households reached 535 trillion won, up 7.9 trillion won over the cited period, while corporate loans rose 5.9 trillion won to 744 trillion won.
  

The outstanding amount of won-denominated loans stood at 1,308.8 trillion won as of end-August, up 13.3 trillion won from the previous month. (Yonhap)