Household Loans at Five Major Banks Up 3.9 Trillion Won Last Month... Growth Slows

Due to the introduction of government regulations on household loans, the growth of household loans at the five major banks (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup) continued to slow in August, following the trend seen in July.

As of September 1, 2025, the outstanding balance of household loans at the five major banks in August 2025 stood at 762.8985 trillion won. This represents an increase of approximately 3.9251 trillion won compared to July, but it is 213.5 billion won less than the previous month's increase of 4.1386 trillion won, marking the lowest growth in five months.

The slowdown in household loan growth is primarily attributable to mortgage loans. The outstanding balance of mortgage loans was 607.6714 trillion won, an increase of 3.7012 trillion won from the previous month. However, this is 844 billion won less than the previous increase of 4.5452 trillion won. On the other hand, personal credit loans increased. The outstanding balance of credit loans rose by 110.3 billion won from the previous month to 104.079 trillion won, in contrast to the decrease of 433.4 billion won in July.

Corporate loans, which had been on a downward trend, shifted to an increase, and loans to small and medium-sized enterprises also grew. This is because banks began to actively expand their corporate lending business after the introduction of household loan regulations. In August, the outstanding balance of large corporate loans reached 167.9179 trillion won, an increase of 2.9885 trillion won from the previous month, reversing the decrease of 722.1 billion won seen in July. Loans to small and medium-sized enterprises also rose to 668.9622 trillion won, up 3.2762 trillion won from the previous month, a larger increase compared to the 1.5992 trillion won rise in July.