[THE INVESTOR] Amid the increasing loans of self-employed workers, real estate-related loans take up 40 percent of their local financial institutions’ lending, a report showed on Oct. 24

Twelve local banks’ lending to one-man operations came to 185.5 trillion won (US$164 billion) as of end-June this year, up 7.8 trillion won from six months earlier and accounting for 18 percent of their total household loans, according to the report by credit appraiser Korea Ratings.

Property and rental business owners took 39.4 percent of the total, followed by manufacturers with 17.3 percent and wholesalers and retail business owners with 16 percent.

Analysts said those self-employed borrowers could take a hit from a business slump because their companies are very sensitive to how the real estate market and domestic demand fare.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)