KB outpaces banking rivals in Q1 with record earnings

South Korea’s KB Monetary Group outperformed its native rivals, posting a document web revenue for the primary three months of the 12 months because the banking trade’s total efficiency was bolstered by a surge in curiosity and price income, regulatory filings confirmed Friday.

KB’s web revenue gained 13.9 p.c on-year to 1.46 trillion received ($1.17 billion) within the January-March interval. Working revenue gained 8.9 p.c on-year to 1.9 trillion received within the cited interval.

Curiosity revenue elevated 18.6 p.c on-year to 2.64 trillion received, backed by stable loans prolonged to households and companies. KB plans to pay buyers a dividend of 500 received per share and to regularize quarterly dividends, the agency stated in a press release.

KB’s trade rival Shinhan Monetary Group got here in No. 2, posting a web revenue of 1.44 trillion received, a document efficiency for the first-quarter and gaining 17.5 p.c on-year. It jumped 199 p.c on-quarter. Working revenue elevated 13.29 p.c to 1.9 trillion received, backed by income from curiosity that grew 17.4 p.c on-year to 2.48 trillion received.

Shinhan plans to pay a quarterly dividend of 400 received per share and handy out the identical quantity for the second and third quarter, in response to the agency.

Family loans prolonged by its flagship Shinhan Financial institution declined 19.2 p.c on the again of tightened laws and screenings, however loans prolonged to companies grew 1.9 p.c within the cited interval.

A significant shift was noticed between Woori Monetary Group and Hana Monetary Group, which ranked No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, this time. Woori, which had been caught at No. 4 when it comes to dimension of web revenue for some time — dragged down by the dearth of a brokerage enterprise — eclipsed Hana for the primary time in years.

Woori posted a web revenue of 917.5 billion received within the first three months of the 12 months, up 27.6 p.c on-year. Web revenue jumped 106 p.c on-quarter. Working revenue gained 31.6 p.c on- 12 months to 1.23 trillion received , whereas curiosity revenue elevated 22.7 p.c to 1.99 trillion received in the identical interval.

Hana’s web revenue got here to 914.7 billion received in the identical interval, up 7.4 p.c from a 12 months earlier, whereas its working revenue elevated 2.2 p.c on-year to 1.1 trillion received.

Regardless of market considerations over monetary authorities’ stricter mortgage laws imposed on the banks to curb the nation’s rising family debt, banks have been in a position to rake in cash resulting from greater borrowing charges. The Financial institution of Korea raised its key rate of interest by 1 / 4 share level to 1.5 p.c, marking its fourth pandemic-era charge hike since August final 12 months, driving up borrowing charges.

“Whereas considerations of an financial slowdown live on as a key danger, banking teams will possible publish performances that exceed expectations for a while, backed by the central financial institution’s charge hikes,” stated Choi Jung-wook, an analyst at Hana Monetary Funding.

By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)