President Lee Jae-myung criticised the collection of long-overdue debt by private bad-loan processor Sangnoksu as “primitive predatory finance,” prompting financial firms to announce plans to sell the debt. Shareholder financial companies decided to sell long-delinquent receivables they hold to the Korea Asset Management Corp’s Saedo-yak fund. Shinhan Card announced a sale plan, while IBK Industrial Bank of Korea and KB Kookmin Bank also said they would proceed.

Woori Financial Group said on April 24 its first-quarter net profit fell 2.1 percent from a year earlier to 603.8 billion won, citing reduced securities and foreign-exchange related gains amid heightened market volatility linked to Middle East conflict and one-off provisions tied to overseas units. Net operating revenue rose 5.6 percent to 2.76 trillion won, supported by higher interest and non-interest income. Costs increased and asset-quality indicators weakened, while its CET1 ratio improved to a record 13.6 percent.