K Bank said on Wednesday it posted net profit of 60.1 billion won in the first half of this year. That was down 28.7 percent from 84.2 billion won a year earlier.
Second-quarter net profit was 26.9 billion won, down 60.6 percent from a year earlier and 19.1 percent from the previous quarter.
The decline in net profit reflected a base effect from last year’s gain on sales of loan receivables.
First-half net profit, simply excluding the gain on sales of loan receivables, was 33.1 billion won, up 77.3 percent from 18.6 billion won a year earlier.
Growth in loans to sole proprietors supported the results. SOHO loans stood at 3.301 trillion won at the end of June, up 108.7 percent from a year earlier, and total loans were 19.785 trillion won, up 5.5 percent from the previous quarter.
Interest income rose by 41.3 billion won from a year earlier. Net interest margin was 1.59 percent, an improvement of 21 basis points.
The delinquency rate was 0.60 percent, and the ratio of substandard or below loans was 0.59 percent.
Ji-young Lee (이지영)
ljy@d-today.co.kr