The average lending rate of major banks in South Korea dipped slightly from a month earlier in July, marking the third consecutive month of drop, data showed Friday. COFIX, or the Cost of Funds Index, a benchmark lending rate for mortgage loans, came to 3.42 percent in July, down 0.10 percentage point from a month earlier, according to the data from the Korea Federation of Banks. The drop follows a 0.04 percentage-point on-month fall in June and a 0.02 percentage-point drop the previous month. The COFIX rate for outstanding loans also dipped 0.04 percentage point to 3.69 percent in July, extending its declining streak to the ninth consecutive month. COFIX is calculated based on the cost of information on funds provided by eight domestic banks in South Korea. They are Nonghyup Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, Standard Chartered Bank Korea, Hana Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Kookmin Bank and Citibank Korea. Source:Yonhapi News Agency