More than a dozen major Korean companies, including affiliates of well-known conglomerates such as Hyundai and Samsung, will be placed under close scrutiny of creditor banks this year as the financial regulator enforces tighter corporate debt standards.

The newly added companies include Hyundai Group, Halla Group, Hankook Tire, STX Offshore & Shipbuilding and Hyundai Development, according to industry sources Monday.

Others such as Hyundai Motor, Samsung Group, LG Group, Hyundai Heavy Industries and POSCO are already on the list, they said. The Financial Supervisory Service, the nation’s financial watchdog, decided to tighten debt monitoring standards in order to preempt a corporate credit crunch.

A company is placed on the main debtor group list when its corporate borrowing from a financial institution accounts for 0.01 percent of the institution’s overall loans.

(tellme@heraldcorp.com)