South Korean financial firms’ corporate loans grew at the fastest pace in nearly two years in the second quarter as the economic recovery continued, the central bank said Tuesday.

Corporate lending extended by banks and non-bank institutions stood at 746.5 trillion won ($695.1 billion) as of the end of June, up 6.2 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea.

Compared with the previous year, such lending grew 4 percent, the sharpest on-year growth since 6.5 percent in the third quarter of 2009.

In the second quarter, local banks’ corporate loans grew by 11.3 trillion won. But such lending extended by non-bank institutions like savings banks fell 5.1 trillion won as they made efforts to dispose of bad debt and were wary of extending fresh lending.

By industry, lending to manufacturers reached 242.4 trillion won as of end-June, up 8.2 percent from the previous year, the BOK said. The growth rate marked the fastest gain since a 10.8 percent on-year expansion tallied in the third quarter of 2009. 

(Yonhap News)