South Korea's household loans extended by local banks rose 10.3 percent in February from a year earlier due to increased mortgages, central bank data showed Thursday.
Outstanding household loans from local lenders came to 710.9 trillion won ($615.6 billion) as of end-February, compared to 644.2 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.
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Various household loans provided by a Korean bank (Yonhap) |
Compared to January, the amount rose by 2.9 trillion won.
Mortgages climbed 2.1 trillion won month-over-month to 535.9 trillion won in February. In January, mortgages rose 800 billion won from a month earlier, the BOK said.
South Korea's outstanding household credit -- which is composed of household loans and credit card spending -- jumped to 1,344.3 trillion won in the October-December period, up 11.7 percent from 1,203.1 trillion won a year earlier.
South Korea's financial regulator has urged financial firms to focus on risk management rather than the expansion of business.
In February, local lenders' outstanding corporate loans came to 758.3 trillion won, up 4.4 trillion won from the previous month. (Yonhap)
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