South Korean bank’s corporate lending fell in December: central bank 

The Bank of Korea blamed this on seasonal factors.

Bank lending to large corporations and small businesses contracted in December, according to data released by the Bank of Korea (BOK).

Lending to large corporations declined by KRW5.9t in December, reversing the KRW7.3t increase a month earlier.

Bank lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) fell by KRW9.4t in December.

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The central bank attributed the declines to seasonal factors.

“Bank lending to large corporations decreased , particularly in the context of working capital, due to repayments of loans through overdraft accounts for the purpose of corporations’ year-end financial ratio management,” the BOK wrote in its report.

Bank lending to SMEs, meanwhile, were said to have decreased due to  banks’ sales and write-offs of non-performing loans and corporations’ loan redemptions at the year-end.