SEOUL, South Korea - Shinhan Financial Group Co. disclosed its third-quarter financials on Friday, revealing a net income of 1.21 trillion won (US$902.4 million), a decrease of 26 percent compared to the same period last year.
According to a new release by Yonhap News Agency, operating income for the July-September period came to 1.7 trillion won, marking a 1.1 percent drop from a year ago. Sales saw a more dramatic decline, dropping 29.8 percent to 16.64 trillion won. Despite these reductions, the earnings surpassed market expectations, with the average net profit estimate by analysts standing at 1.17 trillion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data arm of Yonhap News Agency.
The group ascribed the year-over-year decline in net profit to a "one-off" cost involving 120 billion won as a consequence of a financial scandal related to the now-defunct Lime Asset Investment. Over the first nine months of the year, Shinhan Financial's net profit totaled 3.9 trillion won, a decrease of 10.7 percent compared to the same timeframe in the previous year.
Contrastingly, the group’s flagship, Shinhan Bank, reported a Q3 net profit of 918.5 billion won, showing a slight increase of 0.99 percent from a year ago, attributable to increased interest income.