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| ▲ The headquarters of Shinhan Financial Group Co. in central Seoul (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) Shinhan Financial Group-Q3 earnings
(LEAD) Shinhan Financial Group Q3 net hits new high on higher interest income
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SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- Major South Korean financial holding firm Shinhan Financial Group Co. said Tuesday its third-quarter net profit spiked nearly 43 percent on-year to a record high thanks mainly to higher interest income.
Net income came to 1.59 trillion won (US$1.1 billion) in the July-September period, up 42.9 percent from a year earlier, the banking group said in a regulatory filing.
It was the largest quarterly bottom line and also up 20.8 percent from the previous quarter.
In the first three quarters of the year, the group's net income jumped 21.2 percent from a year earlier to an all-time high of 4.32 trillion won.
Shinhan Financial Group attributed the stellar third-quarter profit to increased interest income stemming from key rate hikes by the country's central bank and sales of its non-business assets.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) has raised its key policy rate by a combined 2.5 percentage points since August last year to rein in inflation, including the second-ever big-step rate hike of 50 basis points early this month. The BOK is widely expected to deliver another rate increase before year-end.
Flagship Shinhan Bank led the group's bumper third-quarter performance, with its net profit swelling 19.8 percent on-year to nearly 910 billion won in the third quarter.
Non-bank subsidiaries also posted stellar records. Net profit of Shinhan Financial Investment Co., the group's brokerage arm, shot up 754.4 percent to 381.3 billion won due to the sale of its building, with that of Shinhan Card Co. rising 2 percent to 175 billion won.
Shinhan Financial Group's net interest margin (NIM), or the difference between interest paid and interest received, stood at 2 percent as of end-September, up from 1.98 percent three months earlier.
Earlier this month, Shinhan Financial Group said it will pay out a 400 won cash dividend per common share for the third quarter and buy back 150 billion won worth of its shares in a bid to bolster shareholder value.
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