KB Financial Group logged the best results in its history last year to take over the top position among rival financial groups in the country with its net profit coming to around 3 trillion won, the first financial group to do so in history, the group said on Feb. 8.
The group’s record net profit amounted to 3.311,9 trillion won, up 54.5 percent YoY for the first since the group was launched in 2008, taking over the top position among the financial groups in the country in terms of net profit in 2017 from Shinhan Financial Group. The group’s outstanding results last year were owed to the excellent performances put in by KB Kookmin Bank, its key affiliate, and non-banking affiliates like KB Securities, KB Non-Life Insurance and KB Capital.
Kookmin Bank posted 2.175 trillion won in net profit last year, up 125 percent YoY, to do its share as the most important affiliate of the group. The bank’s outstanding performance results were owed to the boosts in NIM to bring interest earnings to total 5.394,3 trillion won and increases in credit loans to individuals up 15 percent and loans to SMEs up 10 percent YoY.
The group’s non-interest income also advanced sizably last year also coming to 2.482,1 trillion won, up 138.1 percent YoY with KB Securities doing an excellent job in boosting its fee income to 450.6 billion won, up 190 percent YoY.
The group’s 4th quarter net profit dipped to 554.2 billion won, down 38.3 percent from the previous quarter due to Kookmin Bank’s 38.3 percent reductions in its net profit due to the one-time payments such as the early retirement payments, and dividend payments, amounting to 190 billion won and 155 billion won respectively.
All of the group’s affiliates led by Kookmin Bank did well last year in their operations except KB Card. KB Securities saw its net profit rise to 271.7 billion won with its earnings connected with the introduction of Kookmin Bank customers to the securities transactions rising whopping four times to 4.697,7 trillion won from 924.6 billion won recorded for the previous year. KB Non-Life Insurance netted 330.3 billion won in profit while KB Capital also brought in 120.8 billion won in net profit last year.
KB Card saw its net profit dip to 296.8 billion won, down 6.4 percent YoY become the only affiliate to have its net profit cut mainly due to the reductions in its fee income in the non-interest sectors. The group swore that it will try to boost its overseas operations and other domestic sectors with segregated strategies for each areas of operation and digitalization of its apparatuses to become a top financial group in Asia.
In the meantime, the group announced that its brand value took the first place among domestic financial groups in Korea with 5.1 trillion won in value, up 18 percent from the previous year and ranked 58th in global terms, according to the announcement made by Brand Finance, a global finance evaluation firm.
Kookmin Bank got the Korea Superb PB Bank Award from Brand Finance for second year in a row on Feb. 8 in New York. Brand Finance selected 500 financial institutions around the world in rankings in terms of various key factors including brand competitive power, customer satisfaction, social contribution activity, growth prospects, among others.
KB Financial Group Inc., a financial holding company, provides various banking and related financial services to individuals and corporations in South Korea and internationally. It operates through six segments: Retail Banking Operations, Corporate Banking Operations, Other Banking Operations, Credit Card Operations, Investment and Securities Operations, and Life Insurance Operations.
The company offers deposit products, including demand deposits, time deposits, savings deposits, certificates of deposit, foreign currency deposits; and loans, such as mortgages and home equity, other consumer loans, working capital and facilities loans, as well as credit cards.
_국민금융 도표.jpg)
