Korea's seven financial holding companies suffered a 12 percent decline in combined net profit last year due to a base effect, government data showed Wednesday.
The seven financial holding groups -- Shinhan, Hana, KB, NH, BNK, JB and DGB -- posted a net profit of 5.595 trillion won ($4.8 billion) in 2015, down from 6.383 trillion won a year earlier. Given that 1.312 trillion won worth of one-off gains were reflected in their bottom lines in 2014, they fared well last year, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said in a statement.
Buildings of securities firms in Seoul (Yonhap)
"When one-off investment gains are taken out from the 2014 net results, their collective net income rose 10 percent last year from the previous year," an FSS official said.
By income source, the companies earned 54.1 percent of net profit from banking services, followed by non-banking with 28.3 percent, financial investments' 9.8 percent and insurance's 7.8 percent, the statement said.
"As banks diversify their banking-focused portfolios amid low growth and low margins, non-banking services are expected to contribute more to their final figures," the official said.
At the end of 2015, the ratio of non-performing loans held by the seven firms to overall loans changed little, to 1.35 percent last year from the previous year's 1.36 percent, it said. (Yonhap)