South Korea’s Nonghyup Financial Group Inc. posted a record high net income of 1.2 trillion won ($1.1 billion) in 2018 as its bottom line was helped by a sharp reduction in bad debt reserves and robust lending and securities commissions.

Nonghyup Financial Group said Thursday that its net income for full 2018 jumped 41.8 percent from a year ago period to 1.2 trillion won, its best since expansion to a financial holding entity in 2012. It also was the first time for its net income to top 1 trillion won.

The stellar result largely owed to a plunge in provisions for bad debts, which shriveled 22.1 percent to 735.5 billion won from a year ago period. Its non-performing loan ratio stood at 0.91 percent as of December 31, 2018, down from 0.95 percent three months earlier.

Its mainstay lending and brokerage units also delivered their strongest on brisk sales.

Nonghyup Financial Group collected 7.9 trillion won in interest income, up 9.9 percent on year, and 1.1 trillion won in commission fee, 4.5 percent higher.

NH NongHyup Bank saw its net income for full 2018 surge 87.5 percent from the previous year to 1.2 trillion won. NH Investment & Securities posted a net income of 360.9 billion won, up 3.1 percent year over year.

NH NongHyup Bank’s net interest margin, which shows a lender’s profitability, improved by 0.02 percentage points to 1.89 percent over the cited period.

The group’s total asset expanded 7.3 percent on year to 417 trillion won.

Industry experts noted the group delivered its best-ever performance under the leadership of its new chief Kim Gwang-soo who took the chairman’s office in April last year. Kim previously had worked for the Blue House’s economic department, the finance ministry and the Financial Services Commission

By Kim Tae-sung and Cho Jeehyun

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