KB Financial Group posted its best-ever business performance for the third consecutive year in 2022, thanks to the expansion of net interest margin following a rise in interest rates.
KB Financial Group decided to maintain its cash dividend payout ratio at 26 percent, and purchase and cancel 300 billion won worth of treasury stocks for shareholder returns based on its increased profits.
In addition, it mapped out a mid- to long-term capital management plan to catch two rabbits with one stone — playing the social roles of a financial group and the expansion of shareholder return policies.
KB Financial Group announced on Feb. 7 that its net profit attributable to controlling companies increased by 0.1 percent year on year to 4.41 trillion won in 2022.
“Despite a tough business environment due to a stock market slump and financial market volatility, KB Financial Group attained solid net interest income growth and thorough cost management thanks to credit growth and net interest margin (NIM) expansion,” a KB Financial official said.
“Therefore, we proved our solid profit-generating ability once again.”
KB Financial Group’s net profit in the fourth quarter of 2022 came in at 385.4 billion won, a big drop from the previous quarter (1,271.3 billion won).
This drop was blamed on an increase in one-off expenses such as early retirement expenses and bad debt provisions. Excluding this, its net profit was estimated at 1.2 trillion won.
Although its profits plummeted in the fourth quarter but a significant improvement in performance until the third quarter, it was able to renew its record-high performance for 3 consecutive years since 2020.
Last year, KB Financial Group’s net interest income grew by 18.9 percent or 1,808.4 billion won from 2021 to 11,381.4 billion won.
The growth was driven mainly by an increase of 1,562.5 billion won in KB Kookimin Bank’s interest income.
As of the end of 2022, KB Financial Group’s total group assets stood at 701.2 trillion won, with a substandard and below loan ratio of 0.34 percent and a BIS capital adequacy ratio of 16.16 percent, reflecting the financial group’s good soundness.
By subsidiaries, KB Kookmin Bank’s net profit was 2,996 billion won, up 405.2 won billion (15.6 percent) from 2021. As of the fourth quarter of 2022, the bank’s net interest margin stood at 1.77 percent, an improvement of 0.01 percentage point from the previous quarter.
KB Securities’ net profit sat at 206.3 billion won, down 65.3 percent from the same period of 2021, while its net profit hit 557.7 billion won, up 84.8 percent from 301.8 billion won in 2021.
Net profits of KB Kookmin Card and Prudential Life Insurance were 378.6 billion won and 250.3 billion won, respectively in 2022, down 9.6 percent and 25.6 percent from the same period of 2021.
Meanwhile, KB Financial Group held a board of directors meeting prior to the announcement of the results on the day.
In the meeting, it fixed its cash dividend payout ratio in 2022 at 26 percent, the same as in 2021, and voted to purchase and cancel treasury stocks worth 300 billion won.
As a result, the total shareholder return rate, including cash dividends and purchases and cancellation of treasury stocks, reached 33 percent in 2022, an increase of 7 percentage points from 2021.
_kb금융도표_대지 1.jpg)
