Foreign investors bought a net KRW408.0 billion of listed stocks and a net KRW4.6230 trillion of listed bonds in January 2020. The cumulative holdings of listed stocks came to KRW581.5 trillion in total, 33.8% of total market capitalization. Meanwhile, the bond holdings totaled KRW128.4 trillion, representing 7.0% of total listed bonds.

Corporate financing through debt and equity issues in 2019 came to KRW175.4999 trillion in total, up KRW5.6857 trillion or 3.3% from the same period a year earlier. Furthermore, corporate financing through issuance of commercial paper (CP) and short-term electronic bond in 2019 totaled KRW1,512.0065 trillion, up KRW40.7910 trillion or 2.8% from a year ago.

The delinquency rate of domestic banks’ won-denominated (WD) loans—classified as the percentage of loans with principal of interest payment past due by at least one month—as of end-November 2019 stood at 0.48%, up 0.02%p from a month ago but down 0.11%p from a year ago. In November, the amount of newly delinquent loans exceeded that of resolved loans, which contributed to the month-on-month increase in the delinquency rate.

The amount of asset-backed securities (ABS) issued between January and December, 2019, came to KRW51.7 trillion in total, up KRW2.3 trillion from KRW49.4 trillion the same period a year ago. Mortgage-backed securities (MBS) issuance by the Korea Housing Finance Corporation (KHFC) totaled KRW28.1 trillion (54.4% of total ABS issuance) for the year of 2019. Issuance by financial and non-financial companies came to KRW13.3 trillion (25.7%) and KRW10.3 trillion (19.9%), respectively, in 2019.

Foreign investors bought a net KRW810.0 billion of listed stocks and sold a net KRW2.4910 trillion of listed bonds in December 2019. The cumulative holdings of listed stocks came to KRW593.2 trillion in total, 33.3% of total market capitalization. Meanwhile, the bond holdings totaled KRW123.7 trillion, representing 6.8% of total listed bonds.

Corporate financing through debt and equity issues in November 2019 totaled KRW12.1731 trillion in total, down KRW8.5357 trillion from a month earlier. Furthermore, corporate financing through issuance of commercial paper (CP) and short-term electronic bond in November totaled KRW151.1019 trillion, up KRW13.8694 trillion from the previous month.

The risk-based capital ratios (actual solvency capital divided by the minimum solvency capital required) of domestic insurance companies at the end of September 2019 stood at 286.9%, up 4.5%p from 282.4% three months earlier.

The delinquency rate of domestic banks’ won-denominated (WD) loans—classified as the percentage of loans with principal of interest payment past due by at least one month—as of end-October 2019 stood at 0.46%, up 0.02%p from a month earlier but down 0.12%p from a year earlier. In October, the amount of newly delinquent loans exceeded that of resolved loans, which drove the delinquency rate to rise compared to September.

Securities companies reported net income of KRW988.9 billion for the third quarter 2019, down KRW395.1 billion or 28.5% from KRW1.3840 trillion three months earlier. The decline mostly resulted from decreases in bond-related income and commission income. The return on equity (ROE) for the three months to September stood at 6.6% (8.8% on an annualized basis), down 0.2%p from 6.8% (9.0%) the same period a year ago.

Foreign investors sold a net KRW2.8390 trillion of listed stocks and a net KRW1.7760 trillion of listed bonds in November 2019. The cumulative holdings of listed stocks came to KRW558.4 trillion in total, 33.1% of total market capitalization. Meanwhile, the bond holdings totaled KRW124.8 trillion, representing 6.8% of total listed bonds.

Preliminary figures on bank loans classified as substandard or below (SBLs) for the third quarter 2019 showed that the ratio stood at 0.86%, down 0.05%p from 0.91% three months earlier and also down 0.10%p from 0.96% a year earlier.

The aggregate assets of 79 savings banks came to KRW74.2 trillion at the end of September 2019, up KRW4.7 trillion or 6.7% from KRW69.5 trillion at the end of 2018. In particular, loans increased KRW3.4 trillion or 5.8% from KRW59.2 trillion to KRW62.6 trillion during the same period. Shareholders’ equity grew KRW919.2 billion or 11.8% to KRW8.7 trillion. Compared to nine months ago, retained gains have risen KRW779.3 billion and secondary offerings expanded KRW140.4 billion, which contributed to the growth in shareholders’ equity.

Domestic banks’ total capital ratio was 15.40% as of end-September 2019. The Tier 1 capital ratio stood at 13.36% as well as the common equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio was seen at 12.76%. All the capital ratios increased from three months earlier and remained well above the regulatory standards. Compared to three months ago, a total capital of the domestic banks increased KRW4.9 trillion while risk-weighted assets expanded KRW26.5 trillion. Meanwhile, the leverage ratio rose to 6.60% from the end of June, 2019.

Nonlife insurance companies’ preliminary net income for the year to September 2019 came to KRW2.2 trillion in total, down 24.6% from the same period a year earlier.

Yoon Suk Heun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, held a luncheon meeting with heads of 20 foreign financial companies that operate in Korea at Conrad Seoul on December 2, 2019.