Savings banks are focusing on lending money to manual laborers from abroad in an effort to expand their customer base, driven by the sharp increase in the number of foreign nationals in Korea.
According to the Ministry of Justice, Monday, Korea was home to 2.61 million foreign nationals, an increase from 2.51 million just six months earlier.
The number also jumped 34 percent from the end of 2021.
This increase in the number of foreign residents comes as savings banks find it increasingly necessary to attract new customers due to a decline in outstanding loan balances.
The amount of outstanding loan balances fell to 99.95 바카라게임 trillion won ($72.88 billion) as of May, down from 115.28 trillion won in 2022 and 104.93 trillion won in 2023.
“The fall in the outstanding balance of loans does not suggest that the clients, who are almost 100 percent Korean nationals, are better off in their living and therefore do not urgently need to borrow money from us,” a savings bank spokesperson said on condition of anonymity.
The spokesperson noted that savings banks are second-tier commercial lenders primarily serving customers with credit ratings too low to secure loans from larger, first-tier banks.
“In fact, such a fall suggests more Korean nationals are in worse financial condition and are not eligible to borrow money from us,” he added.