韩国五大银行家计贷款额度上调后实际新增空间仅约3000亿韩元

Financial regulators raised the household lending growth target for South Korea's five largest banks, but the banks have only about 300 billion won of additional lending capacity left. The target was increased by 2.6 trillion won, yet lending had already run 2.3 trillion won past the previous cap. With group mortgage loans and similar products excluded from the calculation, general household lending remains subject to volume controls, meaning borrowers are expected to keep rushing to secure loans before limits are exhausted.
The annual household lending growth target for the five banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH Nonghyup — rose to 6.98 trillion won from 4.34 trillion won, an increase of 2.64 trillion won or about 60%, according to financial industry sources on the 30th. Each bank's target growth rate from the end of last year also climbed to between 1.0% and 1.1% from the previous 0.6% to 0.7%. The revision followed the regulators' decision this month to raise the banking sector's household lending growth ceiling to 3.0% from 1.5%.
Still, the banks have little room left for general household loans. Regulators manage each bank's lending volume based on household loans excluding policy-backed products. For the five banks, household loans excluding policy products rose 6.67 trillion won to 651.64 trillion won as of the 27th of this month, from 644.97 trillion won at the end of last year. That already exceeds the previous annual growth target by 2.33 trillion won.
Measured against the new target, remaining lending capacity comes to about 310 billion won. "Some banks have come so close to the new target that further lending is effectively impossible," a financial industry official said. "Banks that used up their earlier targets quickly were also penalized when the targets were reallocated."
Household lending growth has shown little sign of slowing. Including policy products, household loans at the five banks stood at 781.44 trillion won as of the 27th, up 2.46 trillion won from the end of last month. Mortgage loans rose 2.48 trillion won, while unsecured personal loans fell 21.8 billion won.
Group mortgage loans drove the increase in mortgage lending. Such loans alone rose 1.05 trillion won this month, the largest gain since September 2024, after regulators instructed banks not to disrupt lending to people buying a home to live in.
Starting next month, regulators will exclude the full net increase in group mortgage loans when calculating each bank's household lending volume. Seventy percent of the increase in unsecured loans to borrowers with low and mid-tier credit scores will also be exempt from volume controls. Balance payment loans for purchases of existing homes and general unsecured loans, however, will remain subject to the controls.
As a result, the easing is likely to benefit mainly group mortgage loans tied to rebuilding of aging apartment complexes, district redevelopment or newly completed complexes. That means borrowers buying existing homes or seeking funds for living expenses may still find loans hard to obtain.
On online property forums, borrowers have posted about worrying whether they can draw down loans in time for closing dates, or about repeatedly applying for mortgages at internet-only banks while waiting for commercial banks to open applications. "For general household loans excluding group mortgage loans, the volume available through the end of the year is not ample," an official at a commercial bank said. "Demand from people trying to borrow before limits are used up will continue for some time."