The Industrial Bank of Korea, which focuses on corporate lending for small and medium sized companies, said its net profit slightly rose 1.2 percent on-year to 1.16 trillion won in 2016, mainly due to growth of SME loans.

If its subsidiaries IBK Capital and IBK Investment & Securities are excluded, the bank’s net profit increased 0.3 percent last year from 2015, the bank said in a public filing.
The state-run bank’s net interest margin was 1.91 percent in 2016, unchanged from the previous year.

The IBK’s balance of SME lending went up 6.6 percent on-year to hit 134.4 trillion won at the end of 2016, taking up the largest market share of 22.6 percent among local lenders, the bank said.

The total default ratio, or the ratio of loans overdue longer than three months to total loans, was 0.46 percent last year, up 0.01 percent point from the previous year.

Prior to the earnings disclosure, the bank’s shares rose 0.38 percent to close at 13,300 won on Tuesday.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)