The delinquency ratio of loans extended by South Korean insurers fell slightly in September from a month earlier due mainly to a decrease in overdue debts from both corporate and household lending, the financial regulator said Tuesday.

The average bad debt ratio of local life and non-life insurers came to 0.69 percent at the end of September, down 0.06 percentage point from the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Compared with a year earlier, the figure declined 0.12 percentage point from 0.81 percent, the FSS said.

A delinquent loan here refers to a debt at least a month in arrears with interest and principal payments.

The fall in the overdue debt ratio came as the overdue debt ratio in both household and corporate loans declined, the regulator said.

The delinquency ratio of household loans slipped 0.04 percentage point to 0.53 percent over the cited period, with that of corporate loans also coming down 0.07 percentage point on-month to 1.01 percent in September.

The outstanding amount of debts extended by local insurers reached 124.1 trillion won ($117.1 billion) as of end-September, up by 200 billion won from the previous month, the regulator said.

Household loans grew by 500 billion won to 81.3 trillion won, while corporate debts shrank by 300 billion won to 42.8 trillion won over the tallied period. (Yonhap News)