Woori Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. [Woori Bank]
Woori Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. [Woori Bank]

Woori Bank will cut its monthly mortgage loan limit per branch to one-third of the current level, and restrictions on mortgage credit insurance subscriptions will further reduce the amount borrowers can receive.

Woori Bank will reduce the monthly housing mortgage loan cap per branch from 3 billion won ($1.99 million) to 1 billion won starting Thursday, according to financial industry sources Tuesday.

The restriction applies until further notice and covers apartment loans, real estate loans, My Style Mortgage Loans and jeonse loans.

On top of that, Woori Bank will restrict subscriptions to mortgage credit insurance (MCI) and mortgage credit guarantees (MCG). Borrowers who cannot subscribe to those products will see their household loan limits reduced.

KB Kookmin Bank cut its housing mortgage loan cap from 600 million won to 300 million won starting Friday, and banks across the industry have begun tightening household lending. Woori Bank appears to be joining that trend to prevent a surge in loan demand flowing its way.

The combined household loan balance — excluding policy loans — at the five major banks stood at 648.36 trillion won as of Thursday, up 3.38 trillion won from the end of last year. That figure represents 78 percent of the 4.34 trillion won in household loan growth the banks are permitted for the full year.


hyuk@heraldcorp.com