Insurance firms' lending up in Q2: data

Insurance firms extended a higher amount of loans during the second quarter of the year compared to the previous quarter, according to data released by the Financial Supervisory Service on Friday. The total loans issued by insurance companies reached 266 trillion won, which is an increase of 1.9 trillion won from the same period in the previous year.

The surge in lending was primarily driven by a rise in loans extended to households. The total household lending stood at 136.1 trillion won by the end of June, marking a 1.6 trillion won increase from the previous quarter. On the corporate side, lending grew by 0.3 trillion won to reach 129.8 trillion won over the same period.

Despite the overall increase in loans, the delinquency rate, which measures the proportion of loan principal or interest unpaid for at least a month, rose slightly to 1.08 percent at the end of June, up 0.26 percentage point from the previous quarter. Similarly, the rate of insurers' nonperforming loans also increased to 1.31 percent at the end of June, marking a 0.18 percentage point rise from the prior quarter.