Q3 net profit rises 30.3% on-year to 39.2 billion won

Nine-month operating profit up 15.1% to 174.8 billion won

Credit sales assets surge 44.9%, driving balance sheet growth

Delinquency rate edges up 0.14 percentage points quarter-on-quarter to 1.95%

[Woori Card]
[Woori Card]

Woori Card's net profit for the first nine months of this year rose more than 26% from a year earlier, driven by customer base expansion and growth in credit sales assets. Earnings for the third quarter alone also climbed more than 30%.

According to Woori Financial Group's third-quarter earnings report released Friday, Woori Card's nine-month net profit for the period reached 133.7 billion won ($101 million), up 26.4% from the same period a year ago. Nine-month operating profit also rose 15.1% year-on-year to 174.8 billion won.

For the third quarter alone, net profit came to 39.2 billion won, up 30.3% from a year earlier. However, it fell 21.5% quarter-on-quarter. Operating profit stood at 54.6 billion won, down 17.3% from the previous quarter.

Nine-month net operating revenue grew 5.6% year-on-year to 804.3 billion won. Interest income rose 3.0% to 579.8 billion won, while fee income fell 14.7% to 158 billion won. Selling and administrative expenses increased 9.0% to 246.9 billion won over the same period, while credit loss provisions edged down 0.2% to 382.6 billion won.

Card assets expanded, led by credit sales. Total credit card assets at the end of the third quarter stood at 16.56 trillion won, up 29.3% from a year earlier. Within that, credit sales assets rose 44.9% to 11.68 trillion won, while card loan assets grew 3.1% to 4.27 trillion won. Third-quarter credit sales volume also increased 19.1% year-on-year to 21.11 trillion won.

Asset quality indicators, however, deteriorated somewhat. The delinquency rate at the end of the third quarter stood at 1.95%, up 0.15 percentage points from a year earlier and 0.14 percentage points from the previous quarter. The non-performing loan ratio also rose 0.17 percentage points quarter-on-quarter to 1.60%.

"We are continuing to improve our earnings on the back of customer base expansion and financial asset growth, and we are also strengthening the competitiveness of our payments business through the expansion of our own merchant network and increased use of our proprietary cards," a Woori Card official said. "Going forward, we will build a stable foundation for growth by reinforcing the competitiveness of our independent business operations and advancing our risk management."


snsd@heraldcorp.com