Q1 Insurance Company Loan Claims Reach 255 Trillion Won... 'Housing Mortgage Balloon Effect'

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-ho Kim] It has been revealed that the outstanding loan balance of insurance companies reached 255 trillion won in the first quarter of this year. Household loans increased significantly, which is analyzed as a 'balloon effect' where demand shifted to the secondary financial sector due to banks strengthening household loan screening.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's 'Status of Insurance Company Loan Claims' on the 1st, the outstanding loan balance of insurance companies as of the end of March was 255.1 trillion won, an increase of 2.1 trillion won compared to the end of last year.

Household loans increased by 1.8 trillion won compared to the end of last year, reaching 124.9 trillion won. This was influenced by mortgage loans increasing by as much as 1.6 trillion won to 48.8 trillion won during the same period. Insurance policy loans decreased by 100 billion won compared to the end of last year.

Corporate loans increased by 400 billion won during the same period to 130.1 trillion won.

The non-performing loan ratio (NPL ratio) of insurance companies as of the end of March was 0.17%, up 0.02 percentage points from the end of last year. Household loans fell by 0.01 percentage points to 0.16%, but corporate loans rose by 0.04 percentage points to 0.17%.

A Financial Supervisory Service official said, "We will continuously monitor the loan soundness indicators of insurance companies, such as delinquency rates, and encourage strengthening loss absorption capacity through sufficient provisioning for loan losses in response to situations like the COVID-19 pandemic."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.