Domestic Banks' H1 Net Profit 14.1 Trillion KRW... Up 43.9% YoY

Interest Income Reaches 29.4 Trillion Won

The net profit of domestic banks in the first half of the year amounted to 14.1 trillion KRW, and interest income reached 29.4 trillion KRW.

According to the "Domestic Banks' Operating Performance (Preliminary)" released by the Financial Supervisory Service on the 29th, net profit in the first half increased by 4.3 trillion KRW (43.9%) compared to the same period last year (9.8 trillion KRW), and interest income rose by 3.2 trillion KRW (12.2%) compared to last year (26.2 trillion KRW).

In the second quarter of this year, domestic banks' net profit was 7.1 trillion KRW, and interest income was 14.7 trillion KRW, similar to the previous quarter.

Excluding the Korea Development Bank, which saw a significant increase in net profit due to non-recurring factors such as the reversal of a large provision related to Hanwha Ocean (1 trillion KRW), the net profit of 19 other banks was 5.4 trillion KRW, a decrease of 600 billion KRW compared to the previous quarter (6 trillion KRW).

The return on assets (ROA) was 0.78%, and the return on equity (ROE) was 10.7%, down 0.01 percentage points and 0.37 percentage points respectively from the previous quarter. The net interest margin (NIM) also fell by 0.01 percentage points to 1.67%, with all major profitability ratios declining compared to the previous quarter; however, the slight increase in interest-earning assets helped maintain the scale of interest income.

Non-interest income of domestic banks was 1.8 trillion KRW, down 300 billion KRW (15.4%) from the previous quarter (2.1 trillion KRW).

The Financial Supervisory Service stated, "Uncertainty is increasing due to the global economic slowdown triggered by the Chinese real estate sector and continued monetary tightening," adding, "It is necessary to enhance loss absorption capacity based on earnings to maintain soundness even in the face of unexpected shocks."

It further emphasized, "We will continuously monitor the status of domestic banks' loan loss provisions and steadily promote institutional improvements such as stress buffer capital."

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