Financial holding firms' H1 net up 7.9 pct on increased interest income

SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's financial holding firms saw their combined net profit jump 7.9 percent in the first half this year primarily due to higher interest income, data showed Tuesday.

The combined net profit of KB Financial, Shinhan Financial and eight other financial holding firms stood at 12.41 trillion won (US$9.08 billion) in the January-June period, up 904 billion won from the same period last year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

The FSS attributed the increased income to a rise in the interest income.

Last month, the Bank of Korea raised the key interest rate by 0.25 percentage point to 2.5 percent, marking the seventh rate increase since August last year.

As of end-June, the 10 holding firms' total assets stood at 3,409 trillion won, up 6.4 percent from six months earlier, according to the FSS data.

Their coverage ratio against delinquencies increased 10.2 percent to 166.1 percent, largely as the lenders increased their loan loss reserves amid the rising interest rates.

jwc@yna.co.kr
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