The Korea Federation of Banks said Sunday that the new-loan COFIX for February came to 2.82%, up 0.05 percentage points from the previous month.
The index had climbed for four straight months, from 2.52% in September last year to 2.89% in December, then fell in January by 0.12 percentage points — its first drop in five months — before rising again.
Over the same period, the COFIX based on outstanding balances held steady at 2.85%, while the new outstanding-balance COFIX slipped 0.01 percentage points to 2.47%.
COFIX is the weighted average interest rate on funds raised by eight South Korean banks. It moves up or down as rates on major funding products such as deposits and bank bonds change.
The federation said borrowers considering COFIX-linked loans should fully understand how market rates move and choose loan products carefully.
Commercial banks are expected to begin reflecting the newly released COFIX in variable-rate mortgages for new loans as early as March 17.
At KB Kookmin Bank, the six-month variable mortgage rate tied to the new-loan COFIX will rise 0.05 percentage points, to 4.15% to 5.55% from 4.1% to 5.5%. Under the same benchmark, the rate on jeonse loans backed by a Korea Housing Finance Corp. guarantee will also increase to 3.85% to 5.25% from 3.8% to 5.2%.
Woori Bank’s six-month variable mortgage rate tied to the new-loan COFIX will rise to 4.37% to 5.57% from 4.32% to 5.52%.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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