South Korean banks' credit exposure to the country's three major shipbuilding companies was reduced by 5.4 trillion won ($4.7 billion) in 2016 due to their restructuring efforts, data showed Monday.
According to the data by the Korea Enterprise Data, eight state-run and commercial banks' credit exposure to the three shipbuilding companies -- Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. -- came to 46.35 trillion won as of the end of 2016, compared with 51.71 trillion won tallied a year earlier.
Noticeably, the exposure amount carried by the top five commercial lenders -- KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, KEB Hana Bank and NH Bank -- came to 12.66 trillion won as of the end of 2016, down 3.68 trillion won from the year before.
The reduced exposure is due to the banks' efforts to improve their financial status through a massive debt write-off known as a "big bath."
NH Bank reduced the largest amount of debt exposure by 1.14 trillion won during the cited period, followed by Woori with 1.08 trillion won, KEB Hana with 560.5 billion won, Shinhan with 483 billion won and KB Kookmin with 404.6 billion won, the data showed. (Yonhap)