Savings banks' combined 9-month profit climbs 3.6 pct on interest income

SEOUL, Dec. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korean savings banks reported a 3.6 percent rise in their combined net profit for the nine months that ended in September thanks to a modest gain in interest income, data showed Wednesday.

The combined net income of the 79 savings banks came to 851.3 billion won (US$767.8 million) for the January-September period, compared with a profit of 821.8 billion won a year earlier, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Their nine-month interest income rose 13.3 percent on-year to 3.09 trillion won, while loan-loss provisions gained 25.9 percent on-year to 979.6 billion won.

Their loan delinquency ratio was unchanged at 4.6 percent as of the end of September, according to the data.

The average capital adequacy ratio of the savings banks reached 14.54 percent as of the end of September, up 0.24 percentage point from nine months earlier.

A key barometer of financial health, the ratio measures the proportion of a bank's total capital to its risk-weighted assets. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an international organization of central banks based in Basel, Switzerland, advises lenders to maintain a ratio of 8 percent or higher.

The FSS said it will induce savings banks to step up efforts to boost their financial health in the face of headwinds at home and abroad, including U.S. rate rises, rising household debt and sluggish recovery in private consumption.

kdh@yna.co.kr
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