KakaoBank's Cumulative Net Profit for Q3 Reaches 375.1 Billion Won... 'All-Time High'

Interest Income Declines Due to Household Loan Regulations
But Non-Interest Income Drives Performance Up

KakaoBank recorded a cumulative net profit of over 370 billion won for the first three quarters, marking its highest-ever performance on a cumulative basis. Although interest income declined due to household loan regulations, the company managed to boost its results by increasing non-interest income based on its platform capabilities.

On November 5, KakaoBank announced that its cumulative net profit for the first three quarters reached 375.1 billion won, up 5.5% from the previous year. However, third-quarter net profit was 111.4 billion won, down 10.3% year-on-year.

Cumulative operating profit for the first three quarters was 504.3 billion won, a 2.5% increase from the previous year. However, third-quarter operating profit was 151.1 billion won, a 13% decrease compared to the same period last year.

As of the third quarter, KakaoBank's total loan balance stood at 45.2 trillion won. The household loan balance was 42.463 trillion won, an increase of 1.239 trillion won from 41.224 trillion won a year earlier. Among household loans, the balance of mortgage loans (excluding jeonse and monthly rent loans) was 13.415 trillion won, up 876 billion won from 12.539 trillion won in the same period last year.

In contrast, the balance of jeonse and monthly rent loans decreased by 1.072 trillion won, from 12.155 trillion won to 11.083 trillion won over the same period. The balance of unsecured loans increased by 1.435 trillion won over the past year, reaching 17.965 trillion won.

The proportion of mid- to low-credit loans in the third quarter was 32.9%. The balance of loans to individual business owners was 2.8 trillion won, and the bank explained that loans to individual business owners accounted for 40% of the net increase in total loans this year.

Total deposits stood at 65.7 trillion won, an increase of 10 trillion won this year alone, driven by the growth of demand deposits and time deposits.

KakaoBank's cumulative interest income for the first three quarters was 1.4921 trillion won, a 3.1% decrease from the previous year. Third-quarter interest income also fell 5.1% year-on-year to 492.2 billion won.

The net interest margin (NIM) for the third quarter was 1.81%, down 0.11 percentage points from the previous quarter. The delinquency rate for the third quarter was 0.51%, a decrease of 0.01 percentage points from the previous quarter.

KakaoBank's cumulative non-interest income for the first three quarters was 835.2 billion won, up 26.7% from the previous year. The share of non-interest income rose 6 percentage points year-on-year to 36%. In particular, fee and platform income increased 4.7% year-on-year to 231.2 billion won, driven by the growth of loan comparison, advertising, and investment platforms. A KakaoBank representative stated, "We have diversified our loan and deposit portfolio and non-interest businesses based on continuous customer inflow and increased traffic."

KakaoBank's customer base reached 26.24 million as of the third quarter, with 1.36 million new customers added this year. The bank's monthly active users (MAU) stand at 19.97 million.

KakaoBank's overseas expansion is also progressing smoothly. 'Superbank', the Indonesian digital bank in which KakaoBank made a strategic equity investment, has secured 5 million customers. The consortium with Thailand's financial holding company SCBX is also scheduled to launch services in the second half of next year.

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