In order to prevent the demand for’debt investment’ (invested in debt), the financial authorities decided to manage the loan of’minus bankbook (Matong)’, the bank’s limit loan product. This is because new year openings and the amount of existing banks are increasing rapidly at the same time. The authorities are planning to cut off personal funds flowing to the stock market, but consumer complaints continue to rise as the threshold of personal credit loans continues to rise.
“New management of’high-cost Matong’”
According to the financial authorities on the 17th, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service set a management policy for the opening and extension of new negative bankbooks with a high limit. An official from the financial authorities said, “We can’t do anything right away with the already opened Matong, but banks have to manage the opening of the new Maton.” This suggests that the membership conditions may be strengthened or the limit may be reduced when opening a new Matong or extending an existing Matong.
The reason why the authorities have decided to’special management’ for Matong is because its use is rapidly increasing. The number of new banks, including Shinhan Kookmin Hana Woori Nonghyup, and other five banks increased from 1048 on the 31st of last month to 2,204 on the 14th. It has more than doubled in two weeks. In particular, on the 11th, it recorded 2742 cases in one day. Accordingly, by the 14th of the new year, the number of newly opened Matong accounts at the five major banks reached 2,588. During this period, the amount of money used by the five major banks (balance) also increased by 1.6 trillion won to 48,191.2 billion won from 46,531 billion won.
The financial authorities believe that credit loans including Matong and canceled deposits and savings are simultaneously being sucked into the stock market. As of the 14th, the balance of term deposits of the five major banks reached 630 trillion 9858 billion won. It decreased by 9,739.9 billion won from the end of October last year (640 trillion 725.7 billion won). An official from the financial sector said, “Since the KOSPI index reached 2,200 units at the end of October, it has rallied every day until the new year and has risen close to 1,000.” As this is small, most of the liquidity seems to be shifting to the stock market.”
“Risk Blocking” vs “Personal Rights Violation”
As the financial authorities express their intention to manage high-priced Matong, it is analyzed that there will be many cases in which conditions will change when new or extended Matong. Banknotes are already raising the threshold for joining Matong since the authorities set the tone for managing high-income loans at the end of last year. The preferential interest rate has been reduced and the number of cases where the limit is lowered when contracts are extended has increased. In many places, if you cannot use more than 50% of the limit, the limit is reduced when extending it.
The financial authorities are in a position that the damage caused by’debt investment’ can be reduced by managing the use of Matong early. Bank of Korea governor Lee Ju-yeol warned at a press conference on the 15th that “investment based on excessive borrowings can lead to unbearable losses.” An official from the Financial Services Commission said, “We will continue to closely monitor the movement to open Matong along with the household loan targets submitted for each bank this year.” Banks have submitted a goal to the authorities to manage the annual loan growth rate of around 5% on average.
However, dissatisfaction with the rising threshold of even loans based on personal credit is growing. In addition, it is pointed out that excessive regulation encourages the use of’let’s try and see’, even though there is no immediate need. One financial consumer pointed out that “it is excessively infringing on the right to prevent even use of magical power even though it has a high credit rating and repayment ability.”
Reporter Jeong So-ram [email protected]
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