Toss Bank posted profits for a second straight year, showing clear growth in both scale and profitability. But internal control risks have come into focus after a recent IT incident, raising questions over the tasks facing Chief Executive Lee Eun-mi (이은미) in her second term.

According to the financial sector on Tuesday, Toss Bank posted net profit of 96.8 billion won in 2025, up 51.1 billion won from 45.7 billion won a year earlier. The increase was about 112 percent, and it has been assessed as having secured a stable basis for generating profits by extending annual profitability for two years after turning profitable for the first time in 2024.

Outstanding loans rose to 15.3506 trillion won, up 723.5 billion won from a year earlier. Deposits increased 2.5392 trillion won to 30.0686 trillion won, topping 30 trillion won for the first time. The share of savings deposits rose 5.6 percentage points to 45 percent, improving the stability of the funding structure.

The loan portfolio has also diversified. The share of guaranteed loans expanded to 38 percent, and outstanding rent and key money deposit loans rose about 76 percent from a year earlier to 4.1066 trillion won. The share of loans to mid-to-low credit borrowers held at 34.9 percent, continuing its inclusive finance stance.

Still, separate from the improved results, internal control issues are emerging as a burden. A recent incident involving a "half-price yen exchange" led to transactions of about 27.6 billion won, and some of them have not been recovered, leaving expected losses of about 1.25 billion won.

Financial authorities have also pointed to issues in system stability and internal controls and have signalled inspections across internet-only banks. That has prompted calls that Toss Bank needs to overhaul its overall risk management framework.

The situation is drawing more attention as it coincides with Lee's reappointment.

Lee is set to begin her second term from Tuesday after confirming her reappointment through a shareholders meeting and board approval, but how it handles the incident and strengthens internal controls is likely to be a key variable in evaluating her leadership.

Toss Bank is also pursuing a growth strategy. It has signalled plans to launch mortgage loans this year to expand its lending portfolio, and it plans to diversify its earnings structure by increasing non-interest income through fund sales and other businesses.

A key question is how it will evolve its existing growth formula of combining platform-based loan growth with improvements to its cost structure.

In the end, Toss Bank is entering Lee's second term with both the achievement of "strong results" and the task of "internal control risks". How it balances the two pillars of growth and stability is expected to be a watershed for its future competitiveness.

Lee said, "This year we will introduce a range of new services such as mortgage loans and fund sales." She added, "We will enhance the bank's trust and system stability with AI (artificial intelligence) and the latest IT (information technology), and continuously innovate the customer's financial experience."