À̹ÌÁö È®´ë South Korea¡¯s KB Financial Group raked in a record quarterly net profit in the July to September period thanks to fee incomes from fervent real estate and stock investments.
KB Financial Group announced in a regulatory filing on Thursday that its net profit in the third quarter grew 24.1 percent from a year ago to 1.17 trillion won ($1.03 billion).
Shares of KB Financial were trading 2 percent higher at 42,750 won in early Friday session.
The rapid growth was partly driven by the base effect from the decrease in net income in the second quarter caused by high loan loss provisions of 149 billion won and 145 billion won gain from its acquisition of Prudential Life Insurance. Excluding those one-off items, its net core income amounted to above 950 billion won.
For the January to September period, its net income gained 3.6 percent on year to 2.9 trillion won. Excluding one-off factors including last year¡¯s cost for voluntary retirement, this year¡¯s addition of loan loss reserves and the M&A gain, its net core income increased 5.1 percent over the period.
¡°Even under the unfavorable business conditions amid Covid-19 and low interest rate, our efforts to strengthen business portfolio and diversify revenue sources have led the strong performance,¡± an official from KB Financial Group said. ¡°We have maintained stable profit in overall business units thanks to the rise in brokerage commission income, improved earnings of the investment banking sector and increase in credit card fee income.¡±
As of the end of September, total asset of KB Financial Group grew 16.8 percent from the end of last year to 605.5 trillion won, boosted by acquisition of Prudential Life Insurance worth 24.4 trillion won and gain in securitized loans and financial assets.
By Kim Hye-soon and Choi Mira
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]