Seoul: South Korean banks' bad-loan ratio remained unchanged at a four-year high in the second quarter from three months earlier, data showed Friday. Loans classified as substandard or below (SBL) held by local banks amounted to 16.6 trillion won (US$11.9 billion) as of the end of June, consistent with the levels from three months earlier.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the percentage of SBLs to the total outstanding loans stood at 0.59 percent at the end of June, maintaining the same figure as three months prior, marking the highest in four years. Approximately 6.4 trillion won in loans were newly classified as soured in the second quarter, which is an increase of 400 billion won from the previous quarter.

Local banks wrote off 6.5 trillion won worth of bad loans during the April-June period, an increase of 2 trillion won from the previous quarter, the data revealed. The ratio of business loans classified as SBLs remained at 0.72 percent as of the end of June, unchanged from three months earlier. Similarly, the ratio for household loans was 0.32 percent as of the end of June, also constant from three months earlier, according to the financial watchdog.