Seoul: South Korea's financial regulator announced it has implemented corrective measures against an additional savings bank and postponed its decision regarding another lender. With these measures, nine savings banks, including four previously subjected to corrective actions, are now under stringent supervision by the Financial Services Commission (FSC).
According to Yonhap News Agency, the financial regulator highlighted that the asset quality of several savings banks has significantly declined due to their substantial exposure to high-risk real estate development projects. The FSC expressed its intention to monitor closely the business performance and risk management of these nine savings banks.
The 79 savings banks across the nation reported a combined net profit of 44 billion won (US$31.8 million) in the January-March period, recovering from a loss of 154 billion won in the same period last year. However, the asset soundness of these banks worsened in the first quarter, with an average delinquency rate of 9 percent, an increase of 0.48 percentage points over the referenced period, as indicated by previous data.