Delinquency ratio on bank loans falls in December

The delinquency ratio on loans extended by banks in South Korea dropped from a month earlier in December, data showed Thursday. The delinquency ratio on banks' won-denominated loans came to 0.38 percent as of end-December, down 0.08 percentage point from a month before, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. From a year earlier, the ratio rose 0.13 percentage point. The financial regulator largely attributed the on-month drop to a rise in the volume of resolved loans, which more than doubled to 4.1 trillion won (US$3.07 billion) in December from 2 trillion won the previous month. The value of newly overdue loans came to 2.2 trillion won in December, down 500 billion won from the previous month. The delinquency ratio for corporate loans stood at 0.41 percent as of end-December, down 0.11 percentage point from a month earlier, while the ratio for household loans slipped 0.04 percentage point to 0.35 percent over the cited period. Source: Yonhap News Agency