The delinquency rate for South Korean banks' won-denominated loans fell in December last year from the previous month, the financial regulator said Tuesday.

The rate for bank loans more than 30 days overdue stood at 0.28 percent at the end of December, down 0.07 percentage point from the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Compared with a year earlier, the bank loan delinquency rate was also down 0.09 percentage point.

Banks' loan delinquency rate remains stable mainly because the government has encouraged local lenders to extend loan maturity or delay interest payments to help households and firms struggling to cope with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The delinquency rate for corporate loans declined 0.08 percentage point on-month to 0.34 percent in December, and the figure for household loans fell 0.04 percentage point to 0.2 percent. (Yonhap)