South Korea’s financial authorities loosened parts of their household loan management stance by raising this year’s lending growth target to 3 percent from 1.5 percent and planning 47.8 trillion won-plus in housing supply finance support. The move is expected to expand banks’ annual capacity for household loans to around 60 trillion won. Authorities also agreed not to block scraping all at once, opting to phase it down while preparing alternatives such as public MyData.

As stock market volatility rises, money is shifting back toward bank deposits. Investor cash held on the sidelines fell below 100 trillion won, while time deposits at South Korea’s five largest banks grew by more than 35 trillion won in a month. After the policy rate was raised to 2.75 percent, one-year deposit rates at major banks moved into the 3 percent range. Analysts expect more selective competition for stable funding rather than an all-out rate war.