Overview
- Kakao Bank reported net profit of 187.3 billion won, up 36.3% from a year earlier, after booking a 93.3 billion won valuation gain from its stake in Indonesia’s Superbank.
- Operating profit fell 13.9% to 157.6 billion won as net interest margin, the spread it earns on loans and deposits, slipped to 2.00% and delinquency inched to 0.51%.
- The bank added 570,000 customers to reach 27.3 million users and monthly active users hit 20.3 million, with use of its conversational AI jumping tenfold in four months.
- Deposits rose to 69.4 trillion won and loans reached 47.7 trillion won, showing steady uptake of its app for everyday saving and borrowing.
- Management outlined a push overseas through a virtual-bank project in Thailand and a partnership with Mongolia’s MCS Group for a stake in M Bank, and it plans to raise shareholder returns to about 50% of earnings.