SOUTH KOREAN RETAIL INVESTORS ARE NOW BORROWING FROM BANKS TO BUY STOCKS.

Margin loans hit a record ₩36.47 trillion this year, double the level a year ago. When brokerages raised margin rates toward 10%, retail investors didn't stop. They moved to bank credit lines instead. Household bank loans jumped ₩9.3 trillion in May alone, the fastest monthly increase since August 2024. Bank of Korea data directly links the surge to stock investment, not mortgages. How extreme has it gotten? A South Korean civil servant posted on the workplace app Blind showing a brokerage account with ₩2.3