The delinquency ratio of loans extended by South Korean insurers inched up n August from a month earlier due mainly to growth in both corporate and household loans, the financial regulator said Tuesday.

The average bad debt ratio of local life and non-life insurers came to 0.75 percent at the end of August, up 0.03 percentage point from the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Compared with a year earlier, the figure dropped 0.1 percentage point from 0.85 percent, the FSS said.

The rise in the overdue debt ratio came as insurance companies saw their loans extended to both companies and households increase over the cited period, the regulator said.

The outstanding amount of corporate debts extended by local insurers stood at 43.1 trillion won ($40.6 billion) as of end-August, up 600 billion won from a month earlier, with that of household loans also rising 600 billion won to 80.8 trillion won in the same period.

The FSS noted that large firms sought to take out more loans from insurers, contributing to the overall rise in corporate debts.

The delinquency ratio of corporate loans gained 0.02 percentage point to 1.08 percent as of end-August, with the corresponding figure for property project financing debts still standing high at 5.91 percent.

Meanwhile, the overdue debt ratio for household loans stood at 0.57 percent in August, up 0.03 percentage point from a month ago, according to the regulator. (Yonhap News)