KakaoBank Posts Record Earnings with 480.3 Billion Won Net Profit and Over 1 Trillion Won in Non-Interest Income

KakaoBank Announces 2025 Earnings Results
Operating Profit Reaches 649.4 Billion Won, Up 7% Year-on-Year
Operating Income Rises 4.8% to 3.0863 Trillion Won
Loan Interest Income Declines but Non-Interest Income Increases
Customer Base Reaches 2

KakaoBank broke its previous all-time record by posting an annual net profit of 480.3 billion won in 2025. In particular, non-interest income exceeded 1 trillion won for the first time, with its share of total operating income surpassing 35%.

On February 4, KakaoBank announced in its 2025 earnings release that its annual operating profit came in at 649.4 billion won and net profit at 480.3 billion won, up 7.0% and 9.14%, respectively, from the previous year, marking the highest results in its history. Net profit for the fourth quarter of last year was 105.270 billion won, up 24.57% year-on-year, while operating profit for the same period rose 26.19% to 145.086 billion won.

Operating income increased 4.8% year-on-year to 3.0863 trillion won. Interest income from loans fell 2.9% year-on-year to 1.9977 trillion won, while non-interest income excluding loan interest income rose 22.4% to 1.0886 trillion won. Non-interest income accounted for 35% of total operating income.

A KakaoBank representative explained, "Although interest income from loans decreased, non-interest income grew significantly compared with the previous year and drove the increase in total operating income." In particular, annual fee-based platform income grew 2.9% year-on-year to 310.5 billion won, supported by the growth of the loan and investment platforms and the advertising business.

Last year, the amount of loans executed by partner financial institutions through KakaoBank's loan comparison service reached 5 trillion won, representing growth of nearly 50% compared with the amount executed a year earlier.

In addition, the money market fund (MMF)-based parking-type investment product "MMF Box" surpassed a balance of 1.1 trillion won just six months after its launch. Last year's profit from fund management came to 670.8 billion won.

At the end of last year, KakaoBank had 26.7 million customers, an increase of 1.82 million from a year earlier. Customer activity also continued to rise, resulting in record-high traffic. In the fourth quarter, KakaoBank's monthly active users (MAU) reached 20 million, up more than 1 million in a year. Weekly active users (WAU) totaled 14.7 million.

KakaoBank explained that the steady rollout of AI-based services such as AI search, AI financial calculators, and AI transfers, along with customer-centric financial and lifestyle services, contributed to strengthening its customer base.

KakaoBank's deposit balance at the end of 2025 was 68.3 trillion won. Thanks to balanced growth in demand deposits and time/savings deposits, this represented an increase of more than 13.3 trillion won from the end of the previous year. The number of net users of group accounts and their balance reached 12.5 million and 10.7 trillion won, respectively, accounting for 27.4% of the total demand deposit balance.

KakaoBank has set a target of securing 30 million customers and achieving a total deposit balance of 90 trillion won by 2027.

KakaoBank's loan balance at the end of 2025 was 46.9 trillion won. Last year, KakaoBank supplied 2 trillion won in mid- to low-credit loans. The share of mid- to low-credit loans in the total loan balance was 32.1% in the fourth quarter of last year.

The loan balance for individual business owners increased by 1.2 trillion won year-on-year to exceed 3 trillion won. Loans to individual business owners accounted for more than 30% of the net increase in the loan balance. The delinquency rate in the fourth quarter of last year stood at 0.51%.

Based on a resolution of the board of directors, KakaoBank set the dividend per share for 2025 fiscal year earnings at 460 won. The total dividend will be 219.2 billion won, and the total shareholder return ratio has been expanded to 45.6%.

Meanwhile, KakaoBank plans to continue attracting new customer segments this year by leveraging its competitiveness in deposits. It plans to first launch a foreign-currency account in the second quarter and services for foreigners in the fourth quarter. It will also strengthen its product lineup by adding platforms for individual business owner loans and auto finance, following its credit loan and mortgage loan offerings. In the second quarter, it plans to introduce a new "Investment" tab. The bank will also push in earnest for growth through global business expansion, its transition to an AI-native bank, and equity investments and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

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