Banks' household loans up in Aug. amid increased home-backed lending

SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) -- Household loans extended by banks in South Korea rebounded in August from the previous month's dip due in part to increased home-backed borrowing, central bank data showed Thursday.

Banks' outstanding household loans came to 1,060.8 trillion won (US$771.2 billion) as of end-August, up 300 billion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The on-month rise followed a 300 billion-won decline tallied the previous month, which marked the first shrinkage in four months. It came despite the central bank's aggressive rate hikes to tame inflation, driving up overall borrowing costs at financial institutions.

August's rebound came in part from a rise in home-backed loans, which expanded 1.6 trillion won to 792.6 trillion won, the data showed.

Other types of loans, including unsecured lending, declined 1.3 trillion won to 266.8 trillion won.

Banks' corporate loans, meanwhile, grew for the eighth straight month in August.

Outstanding loans to businesses stood at 1,146.1 trillion won as of end-August, up 8.7 trillion won from a month earlier. This marked the fastest pace of an increase for any August since relevant data was compiled in June 2009.

kokobj@yna.co.kr
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