Earnings of South Korea's credit finance firms rose 16.5 percent last year from a year earlier, helped by a continuing rise in household and corporate lending, data showed Wednesday.

The combined net income of 78 credit finance companies reached 1.54 trillion won ($1.37 billion) in 2016, compared with 1.32 trillion won in the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service.

The companies include capital financing firms and leasing companies, but exclude credit card firms, the FSS said.

Their average loan delinquency ratio stood at 2.07 percent as of end-2016, down 0.24 percentage point from the previous year, the FSS said.

Credit financing companies' assets totaled 118 trillion won at the end of 2016, up 11 percent on-year, according to the FSS. (Yonhap)