NSP NEWS

(Seoul=NSP NEWS) = According to the Bank of Korea's "Financial Market Trends for April 2025," corporate loans from banks surged by 14.4 trillion won last month. This followed a significant increase after a decrease of 2.1 trillion won in March.

In particular, large corporate loans transitioned from a 3.5 trillion won increase in March to a 2.1 trillion won decrease, then skyrocketed to 14.4 trillion won in April.

Loans to large corporations turned from a 7 trillion won decrease in March to a 6.7 trillion won increase in April. Similarly, loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) transitioned from a 1.4 trillion won decrease to a 7.6 trillion won increase.

The Bank of Korea explained, "The reason for the sharp increase in corporate loans in April, following a slowdown in the first quarter, is that financial institutions were not actively pursuing corporate loans during the first quarter in order to manage their common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio. Once the ratio improved, they resumed corporate lending to meet annual management goals."

The bank also pointed out that the increase in policy-based financial support, especially from specialized banks in response to the U.S. administration's tariff policies, led to an increase in government-backed financial assistance.