Kookmin Bank Posts Strongest Loan Growth
By Park Hyong-ki
Staff Reporter
Kookmin Bank, the nation's largest commercial lender, saw its won-denominated new loans grow most among local lenders in the three months to September on aggressive marketing, bank officials said.
The bank's loans grew by 5.52 trillion won in the third quarter to 147.1 trillion won at the end of September. This is larger than the 5.35 trillion won growth in the second quarter and 3.12 trillion won gain in the first.
``We've lost some market share due to competition to buy Korea Exchange Bank. The rise in loans in the third quarter reflects our renewed efforts to retain the lost market share,'' a Kookmin official said.
Trailing Kookmin was Woori Bank, which has driven up campaign to expand its volumes. Woori's new loans grew by 5.46 trillion won in the third quarter to 109.8 trillion won.
Shinhan Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea posted relatively slow growth after steep gains in the first half.
Shinhan saw its loans grow by 3.34 trillion won to 101.8 trillion won. This is down from a 5.78 trillion won gain in the second quarter.
Industrial Bank of Korea's loan growth also slowed to 2.31 trillion won from 4.35 trillion won a quarter earlier.
Woori Shines in Deposit Attraction
In the race to attract more customer deposits, Woori Bank outperformed other rivals by a large margin on its aggressive marketing. Attracting a total of 5.87 trillion won in new deposits, up from a 4.53 trillion won gain in the second quarter, the bank's outstanding deposits stood at 113.2 trillion won.
Following Woori was Korea Exchange Bank with attraction of 3.87 trillion won in new deposits.
Kookmin Bank attracted a total of 1.86 trillion won, with outstanding deposits rising to 147.9 trillion won. Shinhan Bank saw new deposits grow by 1.28 trillion won to 106.7 trillion won.
In contrast, Hana suffered a 1.34 trillion won drop in new deposits. Banks have lost customers to securities firms that provide higher interest rates through their cash management accounts.
Kookmin and Shinhan paced the gains in the rise beneficiary certificates amid stronger demand for equity funds.
Kookmin sold 4.52 trillion won worth of beneficiary certificates in the third quarter, with the balance reaching 33.8 trillion won at the end of September.
Shinhan sold 3.67 trillion won worth of beneficiary certificates and its balance stood at 25.3 trillion won.
Woori lagged behind other rivals as it sold 803 trillion won worth of beneficiary certificates, with the balance reaching 13.3 trillion won