South Korea’s Top Five Banks Tighten Household Lending After Hitting 85% of Annual Growth Cap

South Korea’s five largest commercial banks are tightening household lending after a sharp rise in loans pushed them close to regulators’ annual growth limits in the first half of this year. According to ChainCatcher, Maeil Business Newspaper reported on July 12 that household loan balances at KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH NongHyup reached 647.57 trillion won as of the end of June, excluding policy loans. That was up about 3.7 trillion won from the end of last year. The increase used 85.3% of the annual new-loan quota set by financial regulators, estimated at about 4.33 trillion won, and two banks have already exceeded their yearly caps. To meet stricter aggregate lending controls, banks are accelerating efforts to raise credit thresholds. KB Kookmin Bank recently cut the maximum limit for home-purchase loans from 600 million won to 300 million won. Other banks have focused on restricting new unsecured credit loans and reducing overdraft account limits. Despite the tightening, household loan balances at the five banks rose by more than 1 trillion won in the first nine days of July. Industry sources cited in the report said that with remaining lending headroom running low, banks may need to impose tougher restrictions in the second half of the year to control full-year growth, raising expectations of a more constrained credit environment in South Korea.