Chairman Sohn Tae-seung of Woori Financial Group. (Photo: Woori Financial Group)

Woori Financial Group announced on Oct. 26 that its net profit hit 480 billion won in the third quarter of 2020.

The figure more than doubled from the previous quarter as the group enhanced its ability to cope with the financial environment, such as making efforts to improve its profit-making structure and manage financial soundness associated with M&A deals made after its transition into a holding company.

Its net operating income, consisting of interest and non-interest income, reached 1.7141 trillion won, up 5 percent from the previous quarter.

Its interest income rose 0.6 percent to 1.487 trillion won from the previous quarter despite concerns over falling profitability following two key rate cuts in the first half.

This is attributable to an improvement in its profit-making structure with the growth of loans, mainly for small and medium-sized enterprises and an increase in core low-cost deposits.

In addition, non-interest income stood at 226.7 billion won as the group recovered its sales power thanks to an increase in foreign exchange/derivative profits despite the elevation of the nation’s social distancing level to 2.5 during the third quarter.

In the asset soundness sector, Woori Financial Group maintained an NPL ratio of 0.4 percent and a delinquency ratio of 0.32 percent, attaining soundness indicators at the industry's highest level in the COVID-19 crisis.

Bank Woori Saudara Honored as ‘Best Bank’ for 25th Consecutive Year

Woori Bank announced on Nov. 11 that Bank Woori Saudara was selected as the “Best Bank” for the 25th consecutive year in evaluation of bank in 2020 by Indonesia’s most prestigious financial magazine, Infobank Magazine.

Infobank Magazine founded in 1979 is the most powerful media outlet in Indonesia's financial sector. It evaluates all banks in the country every year and selects outstanding banks by sector.

Bank Woori Saudara was highly recognized for its excellent governance and risk management based on stable profitability and strong soundness. Bank Woori Saudara is the only bank that has been selected as the best bank for 25 consecutive years among Indonesia’s commercial banks.

In addition, Top Business Magazine of Indonesia honored Bank Woori Saudara as the top governance, risk and compliance (GRC) player in the banking sector in October in evaluations of 840 companies in Indonesia in terms of GRC.

“Bank Woori Saudara was honored as the best bank in the midst of tough business conditions ignited by the spread of the COVID-19 virus,” said Choi Jeong-hoon, head of Bank Woori Saudara. “We will continue to provide better financial services with earning trust from our customers as our highest priority.”

Bank Woori Saudara was born out of a merger between Woori Bank Indonesia of Korea and Saudara Bank of Indonesia in late 2014.

The bank has the largest number (155) of branches among Korean banks in Indonesia. In addition, Woori Bank announced on Nov. 17 that it has released the WON Financial Certificate, which can come in handy at various cloud-based institutions for the first time in the Korean financial industry.

With the abolition of financial authentification certificates under the Electronic Signature Act to be revised on Dec. 10, newly released WON Financial Certificate provides more advanced and convenient services than current financial authentification certificates that will be no longer used soon.

WON Financial Certificate is stored not in PCs or smartphones but in a safe cloud computing system for convenient use. It can work with services by various institutions including public institutions.

Its password entry methods are PINs (six-digit passwords), patterns and biometric authentication. The advanced password management method enables faster and more convenient authentication.

In addition, the validity period of the certificate was automatically extended every three years to improve user inconvenience a great deal.