Nine-month net profit 175.3 billion won, operating profit 234.2 billion won

[Hana Card]
[Hana Card]

Hana Card posted a nine-month cumulative net profit of 175.3 billion won ($132 million), up 3.1 percent from the same period a year earlier, the company said Friday. Cumulative operating profit also rose 7.2 percent year-on-year to 234.2 billion won.

Growth in fee income underpinned the nine-month results. Cumulative fee income climbed 9.1 percent year-on-year to 277.9 billion won, while interest income rose 2.7 percent to 349.1 billion won. Cumulative loan-loss provisions, however, increased 3.2 percent from a year earlier to 243.9 billion won. For the third quarter alone, provisions reached 73.4 billion won, up 28.0 percent year-on-year.

"Despite a challenging business environment marked by tightened lending regulations and concerns over asset quality, cumulative net profit increased on the back of growth in personal credit card sales, debit card and corporate payment volumes, and the expansion of our global business," a Hana Card official said. "However, net profit fell quarter-on-quarter due to higher funding costs from rising interest rates and exchange rate fluctuations."

Third-quarter net profit came in at 49.4 billion won, down 17.4 percent from a year earlier and 27.8 percent lower than the previous quarter. Operating profit fell 3.7 percent year-on-year to 66.3 billion won.

The delinquency rate at the end of the third quarter stood at 1.84 percent, up 0.05 percentage points from a year earlier and 0.11 percentage points from the previous quarter. Hana Card said it is managing the delinquency rate by focusing on higher-quality customers, writing off and selling non-performing bonds, and improving collection efficiency.

"We expect a difficult operating environment to persist in the fourth quarter, with funding costs continuing to rise and lending regulations tightening further," the official said. "We plan to pursue stable growth centered on our payment business while strengthening risk management — including delinquency rate control — to maintain sound, quality-focused operations."


snsd@heraldcorp.com