Due to the stringent household loan regulations imposed by the financial authorities, the banking sector and now the mutual finance sector are raising the bar on loans. The Saemaul Credit Union has completely suspended individual business loans and household loans through loan solicitors, and other mutual finance sectors are also discussing related matters.
According to the financial industry on the 30th, the Saemaul Credit Union Association has fully suspended loans through loan solicitors since the previous day. Following the announcement of the '6.27 real estate measures', the Saemaul Credit Union had already halted individual business loans through loan solicitors. This time, it has expanded the suspension scope to include all loans, such as business housing mortgage loans and corporate loans.
The Saemaul Credit Union will suspend group loans below the financing rate for intermediate payments or relocation costs starting from the 1st of next month. According to the announcement, customers who have pre-registered for consultations with the credit union before the effective date will be able to receive loans.
The New Cooperative, NongHyup, and the Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives are also reviewing ways to reduce business loans for multiple homeowners and high-risk groups. Some mutual finance sectors have already seen certain associations halt applications through respective loan limits. The mutual finance sector plans to strengthen monitoring of total loan volumes to continuously check the trend of household loan increases in each association and to prevent a 'balloon effect' of rapidly increasing household loan volumes in associations due to loan restrictions from the banking sector.
This is a measure taken in response to the financial authorities' order to limit household loans across the entire financial sector. Following the 6.27 measures, major commercial banks have already suspended or reduced limits on housing mortgage loans through loan solicitors. The volume of housing mortgage loans received through loan solicitors accounts for half of the total loan amount. As of that day, Shinhan Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Hana Bank, and NH NongHyup Bank have all suspended sales of housing mortgage loans through loan solicitors, and the schedule for resuming is not yet determined.
The Financial Supervisory Service has begun field inspections of banks this month regarding the circumvention of business loans and will extend inspections to the secondary financial sector starting next month. This is to prevent improvised business loans that may arise in the secondary financial sector where loans are concentrated as commercial banks restrict lending. The mutual finance sector is proactively creating an atmosphere to restrict related loan limits ahead of the financial authorities' inspection.
A mutual finance sector official said, "The mutual finance sector is also subject to the total lending limit system and is monitoring the increase trend. Especially in preparation for the authorities' tone and audits next month, we are currently watching the growth rate more closely, and mutual finance institutions nearing the total amount are likely to impose restrictions, just as we saw in November last year."