KB Financial Group reported a first-quarter net profit of 1.7 trillion won ($1.3 billion), surging 62.9% from a year earlier as its banking unit recovered and the company maintained a diversified earnings structure.
The South Korean financial giant’s KB Kookmin Bank saw profits more than double to 1.03 trillion won, while non-banking units contributed a solid 42% of total earnings despite the banking rebound. The group’s return on equity jumped to 13.04%, up 4.91 percentage points year-on-year.
“The bank’s one-off provisioning affected results, yet annual credit cost ratio is expected to remain stable given current reserve levels,” the company indicated in its quarterly presentation. Net interest income rose 2.9% to 3.26 trillion won despite declining interest rates, supported by funding cost control efforts.
KB Financial maintained its industry-leading capital strength with a CET1 ratio of 13.67%, up 14 basis points from the previous quarter. The cost-income ratio reached a record low of 35.3%, reflecting group-wide efforts to reduce operating costs and improve workforce efficiency.
Digital operations continued expanding, with monthly active users across platforms increasing 14.6% year-on-year to 31.8 million, while digital channel sales for banking reached 72%, up 10 percentage points from a year earlier.
