The issuance of asset-backed securities in South Korea rose 15 percent on year in the first half of this year on the back of robust growth in sales of government-led mortgage funds, the financial regulator said Thursday.

A combined 31.1 trillion won ($27.7 billion) worth of ABS were issued for the January-June period, compared with 27 trillion won for the same period last year, the Financial Supervisory Service said.

ABSs are derived from underlying assets such as auto loans, home loans, credit card receivables and student loans.

The surge came as the Korea Housing Finance Corp., the state-run mortgage agency, largely scaled up its mortgage-backed securities.

A total of 18.1 trillion won worth of MBS was issued by the agency for the January-June period, up 24 percent on-year, according to the FSS.

ABS issuance by local financial firms, however, fell 14.3 percent on year to 6.6 trillion won, while non-financial firms issued 6.4 trillion won worth of ABS for the six-month period, up 36.2 percent on year. (Yonhap)