Registered ABS Issuance Reaches 11 Trillion Won in Q1, Up 36% Year-on-Year

Registered ABS Issuance in Q1 2026
Driven by Increases in MBS, Card Receivables, and Installment Finance Receivables

In the first quarter of this year, the issuance amount of registered asset-backed securities (ABS) increased, mainly driven by mortgage-backed securities (MBS), card receivables, and installment finance receivables.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on April 30, the issuance of registered ABS in the first quarter of this year reached 11.3506 trillion won, up 36.0% compared to the same period last year (8.3490 trillion won). ABS are securities issued based on assets that are difficult to liquidate immediately, such as real estate, accounts receivable, and mortgage loans.

By type of securitized asset, ABS backed by loan receivables (mortgage-backed securities, corporate and personal loans, real estate project financing) and ABS backed by sales receivables (card receivables, installment finance receivables, corporate sales receivables) both increased. In contrast, the issuance of primary collateralized bond obligations (P-CBO) decreased.

In the first quarter of this year, loan receivables ABS amounted to 7.6131 trillion won, up 38.1% year-on-year. Thanks to expanded sales of the Bogeumjari Loan, MBS jumped 92.0% from 2.6488 trillion won to 5.0847 trillion won during the same period. However, corporate and personal loans decreased by 6.9%, from 1.2967 trillion won to 1.2072 trillion won, and real estate project financing dropped 15.6%, from 1.5659 trillion won to 1.3212 trillion won.

ABS backed by sales receivables increased to 3.1485 trillion won, up 59.6% year-on-year. Within sales receivables ABS, card receivables surged 116.0% from 815.1 billion won to 1.7610 trillion won, and installment finance receivables soared 394.1% from 85.0 billion won to 420.0 billion won. In contrast, corporate sales receivables decreased 9.8% from 1.0725 trillion won to 967.5 billion won.

By asset holder, Korea Housing Finance Corporation (HF) held the largest share in the first quarter of this year, owning 5.0847 trillion won, which accounts for 44.8% of the total. This was followed by specialized credit finance companies (2.3880 trillion won, 21.0%), general corporations (1.6235 trillion won, 14.3%), banks (1.2596 trillion won, 11.1%), securities companies (984.2 billion won, 8.7%), and others (10.6 billion won, 0.1%).

In particular, the share held by specialized credit finance companies surged by 165.3% compared to the first quarter of last year. HF's holdings increased by 92.0% year-on-year due to the rise in MBS issuance. The amount held by general corporations shrank by 38.5% due to the contraction in real estate project financing.

Meanwhile, the total outstanding balance of registered ABS stood at 243.9 trillion won as of the end of last month, down 2.8% from a year earlier.

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