{"id":26998,"date":"2026-08-04T07:00:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T02:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=26998"},"modified":"2026-08-04T07:00:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T02:00:54","slug":"south-korean-household-loans-rise-despite-tighter-bank-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=26998","title":{"rendered":"South Korean household loans rise despite tighter bank rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/ph\/st\/th\/2091785805621\/2026\/upi_com\/5fd737e62930aa461d16dac831255409\/v1.5\/South-Korean-household-loans-rise-despite-tighter-bank-rules.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song speaks during a plenary session of the finance, economy, planning and budget committee at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, 29 July 2026. Photo by YONHAP \/ EPA<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">Aug. 3 (Asia Today) &#8212;<\/span> Household borrowing at South Korea&#8217;s five largest banks increased by more than 4 trillion won for a second consecutive month despite tighter limits on mortgages and unsecured loans.<\/p>\n<p>The combined household loan balance at KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Hana Bank, Woori Bank and NH Nonghyup Bank reached 778.98 trillion won ($529.4 billion) at the end of July, financial industry data showed Monday.\n<\/p>\n<p>The balance increased by 4.02 trillion won ($2.73 billion) from the end of June. Household loans had risen by 4.14 trillion won ($2.81 billion) in June.<\/p>\n<p>Mortgage borrowing accounted for most of the increase.<\/p>\n<p>Outstanding mortgage loans at the five banks rose by 2.8 trillion won ($1.9 billion), or 0.45%, to 617.94 trillion won ($420 billion).<\/p>\n<p>It was the largest monthly mortgage increase in 11 months, since the balance rose by 3.7 trillion won ($2.52 billion) in August 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The increase continued despite efforts by the government, financial regulators and banks to restrict household borrowing.<\/p>\n<p>KB Kookmin Bank reduced its maximum home-purchase mortgage from 600 million won ($408,000) to 300 million won ($204,000) in July. Other major banks restricted access to mortgage insurance programs that can allow borrowers to receive larger loans.\n<\/p>\n<p>The measures have not yet significantly reduced borrowing demand as expectations of higher home prices remain strong, particularly in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area.<\/p>\n<p>The Bank of Korea&#8217;s housing price outlook index rose 7 points to 127 in July, its highest level since September 2021. A reading above 100 indicates that more consumers expect housing prices to rise than fall.<\/p>\n<p>Unsecured personal loans also increased for a third consecutive month, although the pace of growth slowed.<\/p>\n<p>The balance of unsecured loans at the five banks stood at 109.75 trillion won ($74.6 billion) at the end of July, up 1.08 trillion won ($736 million) from June.<\/p>\n<p>The loans had increased by more than 2 trillion won in each of the previous two months.<\/p>\n<p>Financial authorities have urged commercial banks to strengthen controls on unsecured borrowing amid concerns that individuals are taking out loans to invest in stocks.<\/p>\n<p>Banks have responded by reducing limits on personal loans and overdraft credit lines and restricting new loan applications submitted through online comparison platforms.<\/p>\n<p>Demand for unsecured loans has nevertheless continued amid volatile stock trading.<\/p>\n<p>Some investors reportedly borrowed additional money to avoid forced sales of stocks purchased with leverage after the South Korean market experienced a sharp correction. Market analysts identified excessive leverage and the unwinding of leveraged exchange-traded fund positions as factors that intensified the sell-off.\n<\/p>\n<p>A commercial bank official said the full effects of recently announced lending restrictions might not appear immediately.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There is generally a lag of about two months after the government or banks announce new restrictions,&#8221; the official said.<\/p>\n<p>The official said mortgage applications can take two to three months to proceed from submission to disbursement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will have to monitor the situation longer to determine whether the current regulations are effective, but demand for unsecured loans continues to increase,&#8221; the official said.<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8212; Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>\u00a9 Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Original Korean report: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiatoday.co.kr\/kn\/view.php?key=20260803010000685\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.asiatoday.co.kr\/kn\/view.php?key=20260803010000685<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song speaks during a plenary session of the finance, economy, planning and budget committee at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, 29 July 2026. Photo by YONHAP \/ EPA Aug. 3 (Asia Today) &#8212; Household borrowing at South Korea&#8217;s five largest banks increased by more than 4 trillion won&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/upi_com\/2091785805621\/2026\/1\/5fd737e62930aa461d16dac831255409\/v1.5\/South-Korean-household-loans-rise-despite-tighter-bank-rules.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}