SEOUL — Insurance companies in South Korea have experienced a decrease in lending in the first six months of this year, paired with a marginal increase in loan default rates, recent figures have indicated.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the total outstanding loans by insurance firms amounted to 266.4 trillion won (US$200.4 billion), which is a decrease of 6.8 trillion won compared to the end of the previous year. This trend continues from the same period last year, showing a reduction of 6.9 trillion won. Notably, loans to households were reduced to 133.6 trillion won, a drop of 1.4 trillion won, while business lending declined by 5.4 trillion won to 132.7 trillion won.

The loan delinquency rate, an indicator of the percentage of loans where principal or interest payments are at least a month overdue, rose to 0.55 percent. This increase of 0.13 percentage points from six months prior reflects a slight elevation in credit risk within the sector. Specifically, the delinquency rate for household loans increased from 0.52 percent at the end of December to 0.62 percent at the end of June, and for business loans, it escalated from 0.37 percent to 0.51 percent during the same period.