South Korea’s major financial group Hana Financial Group Inc. reported best-ever earnings last year owing to its flagship KEB Hana Bank that earned a highest-ever income from interest and commission fees.

Hana Financial Group in a regulatory filing on Thursday said its net profit on a consolidated basis reached 2.24 trillion won ($2.02 billion) last year, up 10 percent from the previous year and the highest-ever figure since its establishment in 2005.

Operating profit jumped 16.3 percent on year to 3.16 trillion won, with revenue dropping 17 percent to 32.5 trillion won in the same period.

The best-ever annual result comes despite a fall in profit in the final quarter of 2018 ended December due to the erased one-off gains that lifted profit in 2017. It raked in 348.1 billion won in net profit in the fourth quarter, down 29.8 percent from a year ago. Operating profit and revenue also declined 27.0 percent and 39.3 percent to 523.4 billion won and 7.3 trillion won, respectively, over the same period.

Shares of Hana Financial Group ended Friday 0.38 percent higher at 40,100 won.

Hana Financial Group saw a 10.7 percent increase in interest income and a 9.8 percent gain in transaction fee on improved portfolio. Its core profit that combines interest income and transaction fee gained 10.5 percent to 7.86 trillion won.

A record high core profit of its key lending unit KEB Hana Bank buoyed the financial group’s bottom line. KEB Hana Bank said in a separate filing it posted a net profit of 2.09 trillion won in the October-December period. The figure inched down 0.5 percent against a year earlier mainly due to the absence of the one-off gain that boosted profits in 2017.

However, the bank’s core profit – a combination of interest income and earnings from commission fees – rose 9.2 percent from the previous year to 6.14 trillion won, the highest ever since the launch of the bank following the merger of the Korea Exchange Bank and Hana Bank in 2015.

The financial group’s asset management unit Hana Financial Investment Co. delivered a net profit of 152.1 billion won, up 4 percent on year thanks to increased advisory and underwriting commissions.

Hana Card’s net profit inched up 0.3 percent to 106.7 billion won. Hana Capital Co., which became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the group in February last year, saw its net profit soar 33.2 percent to 120.4 billion won. Hana Life Insurance Co. and Hana Savings Bank Co. disclosed a net profit of 19.5 billion won and 16.2 billion won, respectively.

By Kim Dong-eun and Lee Ha-yeon

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