SEOUL, Oct. 3 (Korea Bizwire) –The ratio of household debt to gross domestic product (GDP) in South Korea increased at the fastest clip after China and Hong Kong despite a series of tightened lending rules, data showed on Wednesday. According to the data compiled by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), South Korea’s household debt [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s financial watchdog said Friday it will implement a stricter loan screening rule for insurance companies next week to help control risk from the country’s fast rising household debt. Local insurers will have to apply to the so-called debt service ratio to almost all household loans on a [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — After the onset of the global financial crisis, the speed of increase of household debt in Korean families was found to be 7.8 times the OECD average. The aggregate of loans taken out by low income families (bottom 30 percent of the population) or by those who with low [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s top financial regulator said Sunday that it will tighten capital regulations on high-risk household lending, in the latest move meant to slow the pace of household debt growth. The stricter regulations will be applied to banks, savings banks and insurance firms that provide loans to home buyers [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – The number of South Koreans applying for debt settlement last year reached an eight-year high. According to a new report from the Credit & Recovery Counseling Service on Friday, the number of South Korean debt holders who negotiated a debt settlement amounted to 103,277 last year, up 7.2 percent from [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – Household debt in South Korea is growing at one of the fastest rates among OECD countries, which could be a serious threat to quality of life in the future. According to the OECD’s ‘How’s Life? 2017’ report, the debt-to-disposable income ratio of South Korean households was 170 percent as [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — A country with high household debt that raises key interest rates can be affected by a drop in total demand and consumption, a report said Friday. “We’ve found that key interest rate hikes have a great impact on the economic adjustment in a country which has a high degree [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — An interest rate rise in South Korea will increase the debt repayment burdens of vulnerable households who over-extended themselves on mortgages during the low rate period, the central bank said Thursday. “In general, household and corporate borrowers will be able to afford an increase in debt repayment incurred by [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s top economic policymaker on Thursday expressed concerns that ballooning household debt may narrow room for policy maneuvering in Asia’s fourth-largest economy when interest rates rise, while downplaying the chance of high household debt posing a threat to the overall economy. “The risk of massive household debt will [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — The Bank of Korea submitted a report to the Strategy and Finance Committee of the National Assembly today in which it predicted that this year’s economic growth would fall short of 3 percent despite the improving global economy and supplementary revisions made to the national budget. The central bank [...]