Citibank Korea Inc. said Tuesday its net profit for the first quarter of this year rose 6.7 percent on-year, helped by stringent cost-cutting efforts.

Citibank Korea, the South Korean unit of Citigroup Inc., posted a net profit of 73 billion won (US$6.8 million) for the January-March quarter.

Its net interest margin (NIM), a measurement of profitability, climbed 0.08 percentage point on-quarter to 2.78 percent last quarter, the bank said.
 

Citibank Korea has closed 90 of its 126 retail-banking branches as part of its cost-cutting efforts.

The bank‘s capital adequacy ratio also rose 0.01 percentage point on-quarter to 18.94 percent at the end of March.

Citibank Korea’s non-performing loan ratio stood at 0.55 percent at the end of March.

In a statement, Park Jin-hei, chief executive of Citibank Korea, attributed solid earnings at the bank‘s division for corporate clients to the gain in first-quarter net profit. (Yonhap)