Banks’ 2022 Net Gains 9.6 pct on Higher Interest Income

The financial district of Yeouido in Seoul. (Yonhap).

SEOUL, March 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean banks saw their 2022 earnings rise nearly 10 percent from a year earlier on sharply increased interest income, data showed Thursday.

Their combined net profit came to 18.5 trillion won (US$14.1 billion) last year, up 9.6 percent from the previous year, according to the preliminary data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

The financial watchdog said local banks’ 2022 bottom line soared as their interest income swelled amid rising market rates.

Local banks’ interest income stood at 55.9 trillion won last year, up 21.6 percent from a year earlier.

The average net interest margin (NIM) of the banks, the difference between interest received and interest paid, amounted to 1.62 percent as of end-December, up 0.17 percentage point from a year earlier.

Their non-interest income reached 3.4 trillion won in 2022, down 3.6 trillion won from a year earlier.

Their return on assets, a key gauge of profitability, fell 0.01 percentage point to 0.52 percent last year, with their return on equity rising 0.44 percentage point to 7.41 percent.

Local banks’ loan-loss provisions surged about 55 percent on-year to 6.3 trillion won in 2022 as they made proactive preparations for uncertainty at home and abroad.

(Yonhap)