Hana Financial Group Inc., a major South Korean banking group, said Friday its third-quarter net profit fell 8.2 percent from a year earlier due mainly to one-off costs from the recent merger of its key units.

Net income amounted to 253.5 billion won ($223.6 million) in the July-September period, compared with 276 billion won the previous year, the financial firm said in a regulatory filing.

The third-quarter net profit also marks a 32.4 percent tumble from three months earlier.

The weaker bottom line is attributable to the one-off costs from the merger of Hana Bank and Korea Exchange Bank, the lender said. 

The merged entity, named KEB Hana Bank, set sail Sept. 1, a month after the banking group received final approval from the regulator. Hana Financial acquired KEB from U.S. buyout firm Lone Star Fund in 2012.

Market analysts estimated the merger to incur a total of 300 billion won in merger costs for the lender, of which about a third was spent in the third quarter.

KEB Hana Bank is now the biggest commercial bank in South Korean by assets, accounting for nearly 80 percent of the holding firm Hana Financial Group's revenue.

Its loan-loss reserves shrank 70 percent on-quarter to 108 billion won, with the cumulative commissions income standing at 1.45 trillion won for the January-September period, up 11.3 percent from a year earlier.

The net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, stayed flat at 1.8 percent from the previous quarter.

The banking group posted 241 billion won in operating profit in the third quarter, down 38 percent from a year ago, with its revenue soaring 150 percent on-year to 13 trillion won.  

KEB Hana Bank booked 219.6 billion won in net profit, surging 64 percent from the previous year, with its operating income also hiking 40 percent on-year to 228.2 billion won.

Its revenue jumped by more than four-fold to 6.37 trillion won over the cited period.

Shares of Hana Financial Group closed at 28,500 won on the Seoul bourse Friday, up 1.8 percent from the previous session. The earnings result came after the stock market closed. (Yonhap)