<이미지를 클릭하시면 크게 보실 수 있습니다>

Debt by small- and mid-sized businesses, more than half of which is held by the self-employed, has surged this year and poses as a growing risk for the financial sector.

According to the country’s major banks – Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Woori, KEB Hana, and NH NongHyup – on Wednesday, the outstanding loans held by SMEs stood at 441.9 trillion won ($377.6 billion) as of the end of October, up 28.47 trillion won from late last year.

More than half of the total, 53.7 percent or 237.43 trillion won, went to the self-employed, gaining 15.22 trillion won from the previous year amid a slew of government-backed measures to support SMEs.

KB Kookmin Bank was most generous to the self-employed, with 68.05 trillion won taking up 66.8 percent of the total lending to SMEs. Woori Bank lent out 44.08 trillion won (or 52.9 percent), KEB Hana Bank 44.56 trillion won (52.6 percent), Shinhan Bank 46.33 trillion won (51 percent), and NH NongHyup Bank 34.41 trillion won (42.4 percent).

Self-employed and SMEs debt rose sharply under government encouragement. Banks also had been eager to comply amid a plunge in capital expenditure by large conglomerate names.

Most of the self-employed however engaged in the wholesale, retail, restaurant and accommodative businesses, domestic sector hard hit by protracted domestic slump and spike in labor costs.

Their loans going sour could build up to financial risk. The delinquency rate of loans to the self-employed was 0.25-0.31 percent at major four banks as of the end of September, up from 0.2-0.3 percent late last year.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]