The loan delinquency ratio of South Korean insurers remained unchanged in March from the previous month reflecting stable financial market conditions, the financial watchdog said Monday.
The average default ratio of loans extended by local life and non-life insurers came in at 0.81 percent as of the end of March, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. This marks the third month in a row that the default rate has remained fixed.
The latest report showed that compared to the year before, the ratio was down 0.40 percentage points.
The FSS said that the delinquency ratio for insurers has been falling steadily since surging to a high of 3.94 percent in January 2009.
Gradual economic gains, continuous efforts to write off bad loans and administrative actions that regulate interest for delinquent policy loans all contributed to lower numbers.
The total amount of insurer loans reached an outstanding 98.7 trillion won ($86.6 billion) as of the end of March, up 600 billion won from the month before.
The delinquency ratio for household loans extended by insurers came in at 0.50 percent, up 0.01 percentage point from February.
But that of corporate loans dipped 0.01 percentage point to 1.53 percent, the watchdog said.
