IBK logs record net profit in 2021 on increased lending

SEOUL, Feb. 8 (Yonhap) -- The state-run Industrial Bank of Korea said Tuesday it posted a record-high net profit last year on the back of lending growth.

The bank's net profit came to 2.02 trillion won (US$1.69 billion) in 2021, up 60.2 percent from a year earlier, the lender said in a regulatory filing.

On a consolidated basis, the bank also logged an all-time high of net profit of 2.43 trillion won, up 56.7 percent from the previous year.

The bank said its bottom line improved, as it extended more loans to small firms and pandemic-hit merchants last year and made efforts to diversify its revenue sources at its affiliates, such as capital financing and savings banks units.

The bank's outstanding loans to small firms had come to 203.9 trillion won as of end-2021, up 9.2 percent from the previous year.

Its net interest margin, a gauge of profitability, fell 0.04 percentage point to 1.51 percent amid a long streak of low interest rates.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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