Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo of KB Financial Group. (Photo:KB Financial Group)

KB Financial Group posted 845.7 billion won in net profit in the first quarter of this year a little down YoY but three times more than the preceding quarter, the group said on April 24.

The group cleared that the Q1 net profit is down 12.7 percent YoY, but rose 339 percent from the preceding quarter, but the Q1 net profit would be about the same as those in the same period in 2018 if the proceeds from the sale of Kookmin Bank’s building in Myeondong, Seoul, amounting to 83 billion won and the early retirement payments of 35 billion won are included in the net profit calculation, the group said.

Officials of the group said a great improvement in the securities and derivatives transactions boosted the securities side of the operation while the insurance side recovering the usual profit and fee income levels to do more than its share to increase the securities side’s profit levels.

By affiliates, Kookmin Bank posted the Q1 net profit coming to 572.8 billion won, down 17 percent YoY, although NIM stood at 1.71 percent, up 0.01 percentage point from the preceding quarter.

KB Securities recorded 809 billion won in Q1 net profit, up 113.3 billion won from the preceding quarter which recorded a net loss of 32.4 billion won. They attributed the stabilization of the profit model of ELS for improved results in the Q1. KB Non-Life Insurance also ended the Q1 with 753 billion won in net profit, a rise of 73.9 billion won from the preceding quarter, thanks to a rise in the auto insurance premiums.

KB Financial Group Inc., a leading South Korean financial holding company, has recently been awarded a patent for blockchain led Fintech app security solution as reported by The Digital Times (South Korean economic news outlets) on 15th October.

The company is expected to have more than $342 billion in assets under management and controls numerous overseas and domestic subsidiaries amongst which the country’s largest bank namely KB Kookmin Bank which is said to be one of the 60th largest banks globally as on 2017.

KB Financial Group’s new patent is poised to apply blockchain based solutions to support the core of security program which can be used for a variety of fintech applications. The newly patented technology helps bifurcate the security program across various individual apps. Besides this, a variety of safety measures have been applied towards numerous apps that help users such that they don’t need to upgrade new versions of each and every app separately.

KB Financial Group, Inc. is a holding company that engages in providing financial services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following segments: Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, Other Banking Services, Credit Card, Life Insurance, Investment and Securities business. The Corporate Banking business segment provides services such as loans, overdrafts, deposits, credit facilities and other foreign currency activities.

The Retail Banking business segment offers services such as private customer current accounts, savings, deposits, consumer loans and mortgage loans. The Other Banking business segment provides services relating to banking business besides corporate banking and retail banking services.

The Credit Card business segment offers services such as domestic as well as overseas credit and debit card operations.

The Investment and Securities business segment provides services such as investment banking and brokerage. The Life Insurance business segment provides products such as life insurance and wealth management. The company was founded on September 29, 2008 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.