South Korea’s high 4 main banking teams – KB, Shinhan, Hana and Woori – noticed their mixed earnings final yr hit a file excessive, largely buoyed by strong curiosity and fee revenue.

In line with their separate regulatory filings, the overall internet revenue of the companies soared 34.5 per cent year-on-year to 14.5 trillion gained ($12 billion) final yr, eclipsing the earlier file of 10.8 trillion gained in 2020.

KB Monetary Group outpaced rivals when it comes to internet revenue. Its internet elevated 27.6 per cent to 4.4 trillion gained. Its flagship business lender KB Kookmin Financial institution’s internet revenue gained 12.7 per cent on-year to 2.59 trillion gained, whereas brokerage KB Securities’ internet jumped 39.6 per cent to 594.3 billion gained.

Shinhan Monetary Group trailed behind KB, posting file internet revenue of some 4 trillion gained, up 17.7 per cent in contrast a yr in the past. Banking unit Shinhan Financial institution’s internet revenue gained 20 per cent on-year to 2.49 trillion gained and securities arm Shinhan Funding’s internet revenue greater than doubled to 320.8 billion gained.

Smaller rivals Hana Monetary Group and Woori Monetary Group additionally reported upbeat earnings. Hana and Woori posted internet revenue of three.6 trillion gained and a pair of.8 trillion gained, up 33.4 per cent and 23.3 per cent, respectively.

The strong internet income had been largely pushed by commissions tied to elevated loans prolonged to debtors looking for to buy shares and cryptocurrencies, amid a record-low rate of interest.

The Financial institution of Korea had slashed its benchmark rate of interest to 0.5 per cent in Could 2020 and maintained it for greater than a yr to cushion the economic system from pandemic woes. Nodding towards excessive inflation and the recovering economic system, the central financial institution delivered its first pandemic-era charge hike in August final yr, adopted by two 0.25 proportion raises in August 2021 and January this yr. Final month’s charge hike introduced the speed again to a pre-pandemic degree of 1.25 per cent.

In the meantime, over the whole of 2021, banks’ family loans elevated 71.8 trillion gained, the third-largest achieve in historical past.

THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK