According to the Financial Supervisory Service's "2025 Second Half Survey on the Private Lending Industry" released on June 28, the loan balance of registered private lenders reached 13.14 trillion won at the end of last year, marking a 5.5% increase (684.9 billion won) from 12.46 trillion won at the end of June of the same year.
During the same period, the number of users increased by 2.0% (14,000 people) to 731,000. The per capita personal credit loan balance for large private lenders (those with assets over 10 billion won) also rose by 100,000 won (1.8%) to 5.69 million won.
The Financial Supervisory Service attributed the increase in personal credit loans from large private lenders to improved funding costs due to falling benchmark interest rates, as well as expanded loans from some companies' affiliates. In fact, personal credit loans from large private lenders increased by 94.8 billion won over six months, while loans from affiliates of some large firms rose by 306.8 billion won.
By loan type, credit loans increased by 6.0% (306.9 billion won) to 53.93 trillion won, while secured loans rose by 5.1% (378 billion won) to 77.47 trillion won.
Conversely, the number of registered private lenders decreased by 507 (6.2%) to 7,696 compared to the end of June last year. Notably, the number of small individual lenders decreased by 523, leading this decline.
The average interest rate for personal credit loans from large private lenders was 18.8%, up 0.7 percentage points from the end of June last year. However, the overall average loan interest rate, including corporate and secured loans, remained unchanged at 13.9%.
The delinquency rate (over 30 days past due) for large private lenders was 10.2%, down 1.9 percentage points from six months ago. This decline is attributed to an increase in the sale of delinquent receivables and a rise in loans to relatively lower-risk high and medium credit customers and affiliates.
The balance of purchased receivables increased by 12.2% to 22.4 trillion won, and the performance of loan brokerage also expanded. In the second half of last year, the number of loan brokerage cases reached 113,000, a 17.7% (17,000 cases) increase from the first half, with the brokerage amount rising by 37.5% (668.9 billion won) to 24.54 trillion won.
The Financial Supervisory Service stated, "The recent increase in loan balances and user numbers appears to be part of the normalization process following a contraction in private lending that began at the end of 2022," adding that it plans to enhance management and supervision to prevent a decline in credit supply to vulnerable groups amid the potential for expanded lending to high and medium credit customers.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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