Loans extended by insurance companies in South Korea rose 7 percent on-year in the first quarter, led by gains in home-backed lending and corporate loans, the financial watchdog said Tuesday.

Insurers' outstanding loans totaled 255.1 trillion won ($229 billion) as of end-March, compared with 238.4 trillion won the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Their loans to households rose 3.6 trillion won on-year to 124.9 trillion won as of end-March, as the extension of home-backed lending increased amid rising housing prices.

Lending to companies amounted to 130.1 trillion won as of end-March, up 13.1 trillion won from a year earlier.

The loan delinquency rate, which measures the proportion of loan principal or unpaid interest for at least a month, came to 0.18 percent in March, down 0.08 percentage point from a year earlier.

The ratio of nonperforming loans came to 0.17 percent, up 0.02 percentage point from three months earlier, the FSS said. (Yonhap)