KakaoBank Posts Net Profit of 123.8 Billion KRW... Highest Record for First Half-Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] KakaoBank's operating profit and net income for the first half of the year recorded all-time highs. However, operating profit and net income for the second quarter decreased compared to the same period last year.

KakaoBank announced on the 3rd that it recorded sales of 709.2 billion KRW and operating profit of 162.8 billion KRW for the first half of the year. Sales increased by 48.2%, and operating profit rose by 21.7% compared to the previous year. Net income was recorded at 123.8 billion KRW, an increase of 6.8%.

Second quarter sales grew 46.2% year-on-year to 370.8 billion KRW, but operating profit was 74.4 billion KRW and net income was 57.0 billion KRW, down 6.8% and 17.7% respectively from the same period last year. KakaoBank explained, "The decrease in operating profit was due to an additional provision of 12.6 billion KRW reflecting the future economic outlook."

As of the second quarter, the net interest margin (NIM) was 2.29%. The delinquency rate was recorded at 0.33%, but excluding the temporary impact caused by delayed subrogation payments on jeonse and monthly rent loans, it was 0.28%.

Deposit balances increased by 3.1547 trillion KRW from the end of last year to 33.1808 trillion KRW. Low-cost deposits steadily expanded, accounting for 59.8% of the total.

Loan balances rose by 954.9 billion KRW from 25.8614 trillion KRW at the end of last year to 26.8163 trillion KRW. Loans to low-to-medium credit borrowers and jeonse deposits and mortgage loans drove the growth.

The balance of unsecured loans to low-to-medium credit borrowers reached 2.9582 trillion KRW, increasing by 493.9 billion KRW compared to the end of last year. The proportion of low-to-medium credit loans also rose by 5 percentage points from 17% at the end of last year to 22.2%.

A KakaoBank official stated, "In the second half of the year, we plan to launch mortgage loan maturity extension products and expand the target regions and collateral types to accelerate loan growth."

As of the end of the second quarter, KakaoBank had 19.17 million customers, an increase of 1.18 million from 17.99 million at the end of last year. The cumulative number of subscribers to the youth-targeted financial service 'mini' was 1.39 million.

KakaoBank's mobile application (app) monthly active users (MAU) also reached an all-time high of 15.42 million, maintaining its position as the number one banking app (based on Nielsen Media digital data).

The number of securities accounts opened through KakaoBank's stock account opening service surpassed 6 million in total.

Currently partnered with 19 financial companies, the cumulative linked loan handling performance grew 23% from the end of last year to 5.1 trillion KRW. The issuance of affiliated credit cards grew 28%, increasing to a cumulative total of 470,000 cards.

KakaoBank plans to launch financial products for individual business owners in the second half of the year and will also begin full-scale preparations for entering the global market.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.