SC Jeil Bank 2Q Net Profit 57.1 Billion KRW... 30% Decrease YoY

Interest Income Steady... Non-Interest Income Halved Due to Worsening Market Conditions
First Half Net Profit 212.1 Billion Won, Up 14.8% YoY

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] SC First Bank's consolidated net profit decreased from the 82 billion KRW range last year to 57.1 billion KRW in the second quarter of this year. Although interest income increased amid the interest rate hike period, non-interest income declined due to sluggish performance in the Wealth Management (WM) and Financial Markets (FM) divisions caused by deteriorating domestic and international market conditions.

SC First Bank announced on the 16th that its consolidated net profit for the second quarter of this year was 57.1 billion KRW, a 30.4% decrease compared to the same period last year. Operating profit also fell by 35.0% during the same period, totaling 67.9 billion KRW. While interest income increased, the decline in non-interest income was a limiting factor.

In fact, interest income in the second quarter of this year rose by 18.7% year-on-year to 300 billion KRW. On the other hand, non-interest income dropped to 45.4 billion KRW, less than half of the 96 billion KRW recorded in the second quarter of last year. SC First Bank explained, "Interest income increased due to steady business strengthening, resulting in growth in loan assets and improvement in net interest margin (NIM). Non-interest income declined as the WM and FM divisions were sluggish due to difficult market conditions."

However, for the first half of the year, net profit recorded 212.1 billion KRW, showing a 14.8% increase compared to the same period last year. Expenses decreased by 9.6% compared to the first half of last year. The effect of special retirement implemented in October last year appears to have resulted in reduced personnel costs starting this year. Regarding the provision for loan losses, it increased by 34.7 billion KRW year-on-year due to increased corporate credit exposure and additional reserves set aside in anticipation of economic downturns.

The return on assets (ROA) for the first half of this year was 0.46%, and the return on equity (ROE) was 8.49%. These figures represent increases of 0.02 percentage points (P) and 0.80 P, respectively, compared to the same period last year. The ratio of non-performing loans (NPL) was 0.17%, down 0.06 P from the previous year, and the delinquency rate also fell by 0.02 P to 0.09% during the same period.

Meanwhile, total assets reached 99.9429 trillion KRW, an increase of 13.2286 trillion KRW (15.3%) compared to the end of last year, bringing the bank close to the 100 trillion KRW mark. As of the first half of this year, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) capital adequacy ratio and Tier 1 capital ratio were recorded at 16.16% and 13.39%, respectively.

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