韩国企业银行暂停分支机构新增浮动利率房贷以控制家庭贷款增长

IBK, the Industrial Bank of Korea, has suspended new variable-rate mortgage lending at all of its branches nationwide.
According to the financial industry on the 22nd, IBK halted the supply of new variable-rate mortgages through its branches starting the previous day. For the time being, only fixed-rate mortgages will be available at branches. To prevent confusion among borrowers, however, the bank will continue to accept applications until the 30th of this month for cases received or consulted through the 20th. Considering that non-face-to-face volume accounts for less than 3% of the total, which is negligible, the bank is continuing to handle transactions through its online channels.
The move comes as market interest rates have continued to rise recently, raising the likelihood that lending demand would concentrate on IBK's relatively lower-rate products. As of the 22nd, IBK's variable-rate (three-month) mortgage rate stood at 4.135% to 5.035%, up to about 1.5 percentage points lower than at other commercial banks. As of the same day, variable-rate (six-month) mortgage rates at major commercial banks stood at 4.38% to 6.58% at NH NongHyup Bank, 4.17% to 5.57% at KB Kookmin Bank, and 4.11% to 5.51% at Shinhan Bank.
The problem is that IBK is also not free from volume management. As of the 15th, the increase in household loans at the five major banks reached 4.68 trillion won, exceeding the annual target of 4.33 trillion won, and IBK is also known to be barely meeting its volume target.
Such measures appear likely to help stably manage the pace of household loan growth. According to the Bank of Korea, 75.4% of new household loans as of May were variable-rate products, while fixed-rate products accounted for just 24.6%. Fixed-rate products are typically advantageous during periods of rising rates, but with the lower end of mortgage rates recently well above 4%, borrowers have chosen variable-rate products with lower initial rates.
With financial authorities announcing they will maintain their strong stance on curbing household loans in the second half of the year, the lending freeze is expected to continue into the second half. Woori Bank recently cut its monthly mortgage handling limit per branch from 3 billion won to 1 billion won, and as demand shifted to the secondary financial sector, insurers are shortening their mortgage application periods from 90 days before the balance payment date to 60 days.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) plans to decide whether to ease lending regulations based on opinions gathered at a major real estate debate hosted by President Lee Jae-myung on the 23rd, but its room to maneuver is assessed as limited. A researcher at a state-run research institute said, "The financial authorities ultimately seem to have real estate market price stability in mind," adding, "Lending regulations can buy time until the fundamental problem of expanding supply is solved, but there are limits to curbing home price increases."