NH NongHyup Bank
NH NongHyup Bank

NH NongHyup Bank is set to reopen its variable-rate mortgage window after keeping it shut for more than two and a half months — the first such resumption in the banking sector since the government doubled its household debt growth target last week.

The bank will resume offering its variable-rate mortgage product, the "NH Housing Loan," starting Thursday, according to financial industry sources. It had temporarily suspended new applications on June 1 to manage its loan volume, making Thursday's restart roughly 80 days later. "This is aimed at providing stable financial support centered on genuine homebuyers," a bank official said.

NH NongHyup Bank had been tightening access to major loan products since June after exceeding the annual household loan growth target it had agreed with financial regulators earlier this year. Aggressive management since then has brought the pace of balance growth back to a stable level.

Further easing across the banking sector is expected. On Aug. 13, the Financial Services Commission announced a comprehensive financial package for real estate market stabilization, raising the household debt growth target for this year to around 3 percent — double the previous 1.5 percent — while directing that the additional capacity be used for policy purposes such as housing supply and support for young and genuine homebuyers. Relocation loans tied to reconstruction and redevelopment projects, as well as interim and final payment loans for newly built complexes, will be managed separately and excluded entirely from each financial institution's volume management target. That gives banks more room to maneuver within their existing limits.

The measures are estimated to unlock around 30 trillion won in new lending capacity across the entire financial sector. The five major banks — KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup — are expected to extend roughly 7.5 trillion won more, primarily in housing supply-related loans.

Regulators are convening a working-level meeting with financial industry officials Wednesday to adjust each institution's volume targets. Rather than distributing the additional quota uniformly across all financial firms, authorities are leaning toward rewarding those that managed their first-half volumes responsibly with larger allocations. Among the five major banks, KB Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Bank are understood to have stayed within their targets through recent months, meaning the two would likely receive relatively generous additional allocations under that approach.


won@heraldcorp.com