The number of dedicated loan brokers connecting private moneylenders with financial consumers has fallen 26% over the past three years. As existing recruitment channels shrink rapidly, the industry is calling for expanded access to large loan-comparison platforms.
According to the financial industry on the 21st, the number of dedicated loan brokers was estimated at 836 as of the end of June this year. That marks a decline of 293, or 26.0%, from 1,129 at the end of June 2023. Loan brokers connect financial consumers seeking loans with private moneylenders. They have served as a key channel for acquiring new customers, in addition to the moneylenders' own sales operations.
The decline in loan brokers is attributed to an overall drop in the number of operators in the private lending sector, as well as the accelerating shift toward non-face-to-face lending operations. As the number of moneylenders has fallen and new lending has been handled more conservatively, brokerage demand has decreased, while financial consumers' loan-search paths are also shifting toward online and mobile channels.
The private lending industry argues that, in line with the contraction of existing sales channels, it needs to broaden customer-inflow paths through loan-comparison platforms. "In the private lending sector, just as in the first- and second-tier financial sectors, inflows through platforms are gradually expanding," an industry official said. "The current situation, in which brokerage channels are gradually shrinking, is a good time to expand platform access."
Currently, only preferred moneylenders are allowed onto online loan-comparison platforms. The preferred moneylender designation is a type of incentive system granted to companies that meet requirements for lending to low-credit borrowers. Although some preferred moneylenders supply loan products through platforms, the platforms available to them are limited. The industry believes it is necessary to expand access to large platforms with many users, such as Toss, Kakao Pay and Naver Pay.
However, some point out that because platform access applies only to preferred moneylenders, the gap with ordinary moneylenders could widen. Preferred moneylenders have incentives such as the ability to obtain some low-interest operating-fund loans from commercial banks. If policy support is also extended to sales channels, the gap with ordinary moneylenders could grow further. There are calls to prepare support measures for ordinary moneylenders as well in the process of expanding the sector's sales channels.
"The sector as a whole is going through a transitional period, with sales channels shrinking," an industry official said. "Since brokers are highly likely to keep declining, we need to be able to broaden at least the customer-inflow paths through loan-comparison platforms."
