SEOUL– South Korean financial holding firm Nonghyup Financial Group Inc. said Tuesday its net earnings fell 2.7 percent last year, largely as losses from investment in the stock market and loan-loss deposit outweighed increased interest income.
Net income came to 2.23 trillion won (US$1.76 billion) in 2022, down 61 billion won from a year earlier, NH Financial said in a statement.
NH Financial said its interest income stood at 9.56 trillion won in 2022, up 12.3 billion won from a year earlier, on the back of continued raises of the interest rates.
Non-interest income, including income from securities management and trading fees, plunged 62 percent to 657.7 billion won on the sluggish securities market.
It set aside 782 billion won in loan-loss reserves in 2022, up 469.5 percent from a year ago.
The ratio of the group’s nonperforming loans came to 0.3 percent.
In the fourth quarter alone, its bottom line decreased 58.3 percent from three months ago to 259.2 billion won, the group data showed.
Nonghyup Bank, the banking arm of Nonghyup Financial Group, saw its net earnings rise 10.5 percent to 1.71 trillion won in 2022 from a year ago.
Nonghyup, or NH, refers to the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, whose key stakeholders include farms and other agriculture businesses.
Source: Yonhap News Agency