SEOUL– K-Bank, South Korea’s first internet-only bank, said Tuesday its third-quarter earnings more than doubled from three months earlier on robust growth in customers and deposits.
Net profit came to 16.8 billion won (US$14.3 million) in the July-September period, up from 3.9 billion won in the second quarter, K-Bank said in a regulatory filing.
Three months earlier, K-Bank posted the first quarterly profit since its launch in April 2017, a sharp turnaround from a net loss of 12.3 billion won in the first quarter.
In the first nine months of the year, K-Bank chalked up a cumulative net income of 8.4 billion won, putting the lender on course for its first yearly profit for 2021.
K-Bank’s robust third-quarter profit was attributed to a jump in the number of customers and the amount of loan deposits.
The number of its customers came to 6.6 million as of end-September, up 4.41 million from the end of last year.
Customer deposits rose by 8.51 trillion won to 12.31 trillion won over the cited period, with outstanding loans increasing by 3.19 trillion won to 6.18 trillion won.
K-Bank is controlled by a consortium of telecom giant KT Corp., Woori Bank and 19 other companies. In 2017, South Korea permitted two internet-only banks — K-Bank and Kakao Bank — to offer services around the clock in an effort to inject more competition into the banking sector. Third online lender Toss Bank began operations in early October.
Source: Yonhap News Agency