South Korean Banks to Ease Lending Standard in Q1
The lending attitude index stood at 5 for the January-March quarter, sharpy up from minus 6 in the previous quarter, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK) poll of 204 banks and other financial institutions conducted between Nov. 28 and Dec. 15 last year.
The index above zero indicates that lenders willing to ease loan standard outnumber those willing to tighten it.
The first-quarter turnaround came as the financial regulator encouraged borrowers to swap overdue loans for long-term installment payment loans.
The lending attitude index for mortgage loan to households jumped to 3 in the first quarter from minus 14 in the previous quarter, while the index for big companies advanced from minus 6 to 8 in the cited period.
The BOK had left its policy rate unchanged at 3.50 percent since January last year, after hiking it by 3.0 percentage points for the past one and a half years.
The credit risk index for big corporations gained to 6 in the first quarter from 3 in the prior quarter, but the index for households declined from 31 to 28 in the same period.
The index for small firms stood unchanged at 28 in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter.
The lending demand index climbed from 4 to 14 in the cited quarter on expectations for higher corporate demand for operating funds, caused by the lingering economic uncertainty.
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