Financial holding firms' 2020 net down on increased provisions

SEOUL, April 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's 10 financial holding firms saw their combined net profit edge down last year, due mainly to higher loan-loss provisions, data showed Tuesday.

The combined net profit of KB Financial, Shinhan Financial and eight other financial holding firms stood at 15.11 trillion won (US$13.4 billion) in 2020, compared with a profit of 15.23 trillion won for 2019, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

The decline came as banks increased loan-loss provisions to prepare for economic uncertainty amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The average capital adequacy ratio of the financial holding firms stood at 14.63 percent at the end of last year, up 1.09 percentage points from the end of 2019, the FSS said.

Their total assets stood at 2,946.3 trillion won for 2020, up 12.1 percent from a year ago, according to the data.

kdh@yna.co.kr
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