SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Major South Korean banks are scurrying to further raise their lending rates, alarmed by a spike in household loans amid extended easing monetary policy, industry sources said Monday. KB Bank, Shinhan Bank and Hana Bank will raise their lending rates on mortgage loans by between 0.1 percentage point and [...]
UIJONGBU, May 1 (Korea Bizwire) – Gyeonggi Province, South Korea’s most populous province that surrounds the capital Seoul, has unveiled a new initiative aimed at promoting a work-life balance and addressing the country’s chronically low birth rate. The provincial government announced on April 30 that it will provide low-interest loans of up to 200 million won [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 19 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s financial regulator unveiled an ambitious plan Tuesday to provide 420 trillion won (US$315 billion) in policy loans by 2030 to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Seoul has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent from business-as-usual levels. “There exist concerns that the global competitiveness of [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 18 (Korea Bizwire) – As concerns grow over household debt levels in South Korea, a new analysis has found that nearly one-third of those who have taken out loans from insurance companies are overwhelmed by obligations to multiple lenders, raising fears of potential defaults. The study by Lee Suk-ho, a senior research fellow at [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 6 (Korea Bizwire) – The value of delinquent loans among self-employed individuals in South Korea has surged by nearly 50% in a year, with the delinquency rate of young self-employed individuals in their 20s and 30s increasing the fastest. This trend indicates that self-employed individuals are facing financial difficulties due to high interest rates [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — The potential uncollected loans by four major financial holding firms jumped 49 percent on year in 2023, as high interest rates took a toll on borrowers, data showed Tuesday. The value of potential uncollected loans came to 1.96 trillion won (US$1.47 billion) in 2023, up 48.8 percent from the [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s household credit soared in the second quarter of the year amid high interest rates as home purchases gathered steam, central bank data showed Tuesday. Outstanding household credit reached 1,862.8 trillion won (US$1.38 trillion) at the end of June, up 9.5 trillion won from three months earlier, according [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s industrial ministry said Wednesday it plans to offer a second batch of low-interest loans worth 150 billion won (US$113.6 million) to support nuclear energy firms, which suffered an earnings cut following the previous administration’s nuclear phaseout policy. The loan program was initiated in response to the declining [...]
SEOUL, June 22 (Korea Bizwire) — A one-stop online platform for borrowing money to repay credit loans at a lower interest rate is gaining popularity. The loan service for repayment, which was launched last month, has resulted in 19,778 applications and a loan asset transition of 500.5 billion won (US$386 million) as of Wednesday, according [...]
SEOUL, May 31 (Korea Bizwire) — The Financial Services Commission on Wednesday launched an Online One-stop Loan-Exchange Infrastructure program to assist consumers in exchanging their old credit loans for better conditions and benefits. Loans eligible for the program include worker’s loans below 1 billion won (US$753,860) provided by 53 financial companies, credit lines, and other [...]