Korea's Five Major Banks Add 3.70 Trillion Won in Household Loans by End-June

Five major commercial banks in South Korea had a combined household loan balance of 647.58 trillion won at the end of June, excluding policy loans, up 3.70 trillion won from the end of last year. According to Odaily, South Korean financial regulators set a 1.5% cap on annual household loan growth earlier this year, below last year's actual growth rate of 1.7%, in an effort to curb faster household debt expansion. Based on that target, the five banks can add about 4.34 trillion won in household loans this year. The limits by bank are 909.2 billion won for KB Kookmin Bank, 850 billion won for Shinhan Bank, 880.5 billion won for Hana Bank, 826.6 billion won for Woori Bank, and 870 billion won for NH Nonghyup Bank. The actual increase of 3.70 trillion won in the first half of the year already equals 85.3% of the annual cap, leaving about 639.5 billion won for the second half.