South Korea’s Shinhan Financial Group Co. saw net profit in the third quarter exceed 1 trillion won ($1 billion) for the first time thanks to stellar performance of its non-banking businesses.

Shinhan Financial Group’s net profit reached 1.14 trillion won in the third quarter ended September, marking the first time for its quarterly bottom line to exceed 1 trillion won since it was transformed into a holding company structure. Its net profit for the quarter was up 31.1 percent on quarter and 16.6 percent on year.

It also beat market consensus of 979.4 billion won for the cited quarter.

Operating profit in the quarter gained 16.97 percent from the previous quarter and 3.55 percent from a year ago to 1.47 trillion won, whereas revenue fell 0.29 percent on quarter and 34.04 percent on year to 8.24 trillion won.

Shares of Shinhan Financial Group closed Wednesday 4.3 percent higher at 31,500 won.

For the January-September period, its cumulative net profit hit a record high of 2.95 trillion won, elbowing out its archrival KB Financial Group that raised 2.88 trillion won to return to No. 1 financial player in the country. It was up 1.9 percent from the same period a year ago.

Shinhan Financial Group said that strong earnings were mainly driven by strong performance by its non-banking units.

While its flagship Shinhan Bank raised 624.4 billion won in net profit in the third quarter, down 10.1 percent from the same period a year ago, Shinhan Investment Corp. reported a 115 percent surge in its net profit from 59.3 billion won to 127.5 billion won over the same period. Shinhan Life Insurance also saw net profit surge 150.6 percent from 31.8 billion won to 79.7 billion won over the same period.

The net profit of the group’s non-banking units accounted for 41 percent of the total in the third quarter, up 7 percentage points from 34 percent in the same period a year ago.

By Lee Eun-joo

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]