Bank holding firms' net down 7.8% in first half

Korea's bank holding companies saw their earnings slip 7.8 percent in the first half of this year from a year earlier due to the absence of a one-time gain, the financial regulator said Thursday.

The combined net profit of 10 local bank holding firms stood at 6.86 trillion won ($6.13 billion) in the January-June period, down 516 billion won from a year earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

The on-year fall came as seven local lenders affiliated with the 10 holding firms sold their 3.2 trillion won worth of stakes in major Korean builder Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. last year.

Among the four major financial holding firms, No. 2 player KB Financial Group Inc. logged the biggest fall in net profit, tumbling 37.3 percent on-year to 1.53 trillion won in the first half. Shinhan Financial Group Co. came next with 1.38 trillion won, down 22 percent from a year earlier.

The state-run KDB Financial Group Inc. saw its earnings more than halve to 561 billion won over the cited period, the FSS said.

In contrast, No. 3 Hana Financial Group Inc. basked in 1.41 trillion won in profit for the first half, as the financial group completed its acquisition deal to buy the Korea Exchange Bank early this year.

Financial holding companies' capital adequacy ratio came to 12.91 percent as of the end of June, down 0.33 percentage points from 13.24 percent from a year earlier, FSS data showed.

Meanwhile, the combined assets of the holding firms reached 1,840.9 trillion won in the first half, up 28.6 percent from the previous year, according to the regulator. (Yonhap)