Woori Financial Posts KRW 1.0492 Trillion Q3 Net Income on Corporate Loan Growth

Net income exceeds KRW 1 trillion for two consecutive quarters
Cumulative operating profit up 19.5%
Woori Bank posts quarterly net income of KRW 1.0276 trillion
KRW 220-per-share dividend approved

Woori Financial Group posted net income of KRW 1.0492 trillion in the third quarter of this year, surpassing KRW 1 trillion in net income for two consecutive quarters for the first time since the group was established. Expanded corporate lending and increased earnings from nonbanking businesses, together with improved cost efficiency and asset quality, helped boost cumulative operating profit by 19.5% from a year earlier.

Woori Financial Group announced its business results on October 23, reporting cumulative net income of KRW 2.6581 trillion for the first three quarters of this year. Excluding bargain purchase gains and other items related to last year’s acquisition of an insurance company, net income increased 18.7% from the same period a year earlier, the group said. Cumulative net operating revenue reached a record KRW 8.6803 trillion, up 6.2% year over year. Growth in interest income, driven by lending growth centered on corporate finance, and higher noninterest income from nonbanking businesses supported the results.

Cumulative interest income rose 4.5% year over year to KRW 7.0359 trillion. As of the end of September, Woori Bank’s won-denominated loans totaled KRW 313 trillion, up 4.1% from the end of last year. Noninterest income increased 13.9% year over year to KRW 1.6444 trillion. Although gains related to securities declined amid rising long-term interest rates, the integration of an insurance company and expanded collaboration among affiliates contributed to revenue growth. As collaboration between the bank and the securities business gained momentum, the group’s investment banking (IB) fees more than doubled from the same period a year earlier.

Cost efficiency and asset quality indicators also improved. Despite cost pressures from expanding the workforce following the integration of insurance and securities subsidiaries, investing in information technology (IT) infrastructure, and an increase in the education tax, the cost-to-income ratio fell 0.8 percentage points year over year to 42.3%. The credit cost ratio declined 0.10 percentage points over the same period to 0.42%.

As a result, cumulative operating profit for the first three quarters rose 19.5% year over year to KRW 3.5428 trillion. Return on equity (ROE) for common shareholders increased from 9.0% in the first half of the year to 9.9% on a cumulative basis through the third quarter.

Woori Bank, the group’s key subsidiary, posted net income of KRW 1.0276 trillion in the third quarter, up 22% from the previous quarter and its highest-ever quarterly result. Its cumulative net income for the first three quarters was KRW 2.4006 trillion. Woori Bank plans to continue managing costs and asset quality while expanding high-quality assets, with a focus on productive finance. It will continue investing in information security infrastructure to guard against customer data breaches and cyberattacks, and plans to expand the scope of biometric authentication.

Cumulative net income for the first three quarters at major nonbanking affiliates included KRW 133.7 billion at Woori Card, KRW 121.6 billion at Dongyang Life, KRW 114.6 billion at Woori Financial Capital, KRW 28.2 billion at Woori Investment & Securities, and KRW 25.4 billion at Woori Asset Management. On the same day, Woori Financial Group’s board of directors set the third-quarter dividend at KRW 220 per share. The group continues its shareholder return policy, including through tax-exempt dividends. A Woori Financial Group official said, “By posting net income of more than KRW 1 trillion for two consecutive quarters, we have demonstrated our stronger earnings-generating capacity. We will continue to expand shareholder returns by improving ROE.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.