KakaoBank and Kakao Pay Achieve Record Results... Non-Interest and Financial Services Growth Accelerates (Comprehensive)

KakaoBank Surpasses 300 Billion Won in Non-Interest Income
Kakao Pay's Q1 Operating Profit Up 631% Year-on-Year

KakaoBank and Kakao Pay both posted strong results in the first quarter of this year. As the expansion of their customer base and the diversification of platform-based businesses began to yield tangible outcomes, the payments, financial, and platform sectors showed remarkable growth.

According to the financial sector on May 6, KakaoBank announced that its net profit for the first quarter of this year reached 187.3 billion won, up 36.3% from the same period last year. This marks the highest quarterly performance in the company's history. Operating revenue increased by 4.4% to 819.3 billion won.

Non-interest income growth was particularly notable. Non-interest income for the first quarter amounted to 302.9 billion won, a 7.5% increase year-on-year, surpassing the 300 billion won mark for the first time. The proportion of non-interest income within total operating revenue also expanded to 37%.

Fee and platform income was recorded at 80.8 billion won, supported by diversification into advertising, joint loans, travel services, and survey businesses. KakaoBank plans to further expand its payments business in the second half of the year by launching customized benefit debit cards, cards designed for teenagers and foreigners, and private label credit cards (PLCC).

The growth trend in lending also continued. As of the end of the first quarter this year, outstanding loans totaled 47.699 trillion won, up 7.7% from a year earlier. The share of new loans extended to mid- and low-credit borrowers reached 45.6%, and the outstanding balance of loans to individual business owners expanded to 3.403 trillion won.

Asset quality indicators remained stable. The delinquency rate for the first quarter was 0.51%, and the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio was 0.53%. The customer base also continued to grow steadily. The number of customers at the end of the first quarter stood at 27.27 million, up 570,000 from the end of last year. Monthly active users (MAU) were counted at 20.32 million.

Kakao Pay also announced a significant improvement in performance. On a consolidated basis, Kakao Pay's operating profit for the first quarter reached 32.2 billion won, up 631% from the same period last year. Revenue was 300.3 billion won, a 41.7% increase and an all-time quarterly high. Net profit amounted to 34.7 billion won, up 141.5% year-on-year.

Growth was balanced across payments, financial, and platform businesses. Revenue from payment services increased by 13.3% to 138.4 billion won, while revenue from financial services soared 82% to 145.9 billion won. Revenue from platform services also grew 67% to 16 billion won.

Kakao Pay highlighted the growth of its payments business leveraging data competitiveness, the expansion of insurance and investment services, and the development of its agentic AI ecosystem as its major achievements. Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun stated, "Our data-based business model and new growth engines have now entered full swing."

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