SC First Bank's Cumulative Net Profit Through Q3 Rises 66.51% to 506.2 Billion Won

Driven by improved wealth management performance and the reversal of provisions for Hong Kong H-share-linked ELS losses

SC First Bank said on Nov. 13 that its cumulative net profit through the third quarter of this year reached 506.2 billion won, up 202.2 billion won, or 66.51%, from 304 billion won in the same period last year.

SC First Bank said its net profit increased as non-interest income performed well, driven by improved results in its wealth management business, and as it reversed part of the provisions related to Hong Kong H-share-linked equity-linked securities (ELS) in the second quarter, amounting to 110.2 billion won. However, net profit for the third quarter was 81.8 billion won, down 14.26% from 95.4 billion won in the same period last year.

Cumulative net interest income for the first three quarters totaled 942.4 billion won. Although the net interest margin (NIM) fell by 0.27 percentage points, the increase in customer loans led to a 3.69% rise from 908.9 billion won in the same period last year.

Non-interest income reached 418.5 billion won, up 54.20% from 271.4 billion won in the same period last year, supported by strong performance in wealth management amid an increase in high-net-worth clients and a booming stock market.

Operating expenses rose 2.73% to 732.9 billion won due to higher operating costs resulting from wage and price increases.

SC First Bank said the increase in wages was partially offset by lower labor costs resulting from a special retirement program carried out at the end of 2025.

The delinquency rate stood at 0.64% at the end of the third quarter, up 0.19 percentage points from 0.45% at the end of the third quarter last year.

As of the end of September, total loans stood at 44.4053 trillion won, up 631 billion won, or 1.44%, from 43.7743 trillion won at the end of September last year, driven by increased funding demand from corporate banking clients.

Return on assets and return on equity were 0.58% and 12.06%, respectively, up 0.14 and 4.74 percentage points from the same period last year.

SC First Bank also said on Nov. 12 that it had approved an interim dividend of 150 billion won. This is the first such dividend in three years since it approved an interim dividend of 200 billion won in 2023.

It said that even after the dividend, its total capital ratio (CAR) and common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio stood at 20.28% and 17.83%, respectively, exceeding regulatory requirements.

Yonhap News Agency

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