Kakao Bank [323410] announced on the 4th that its cumulative net profit for the third quarter recorded 469.8 billion won, a 25.2% increase compared to the same period last year.
This is the highest performance ever on a cumulative basis for the third quarter.
Looking at net profit in the third quarter alone, it increased by 27.2% to 141.7 billion won.
Kakao Bank explained, “This is the result of the expansion of credit centered on small business owners and actual consumers, diversification of non-interest income such as payments and investments, and stable fund management.”
Kakao Bank's cumulative operating revenue in the third quarter recorded 2.5292 trillion won, an 8.7% increase from the same period last year.
Profit from loans (credit interest income) was KRW 1.6409 trillion, an increase of 10.0% compared to the same period last year, and non-interest income excluding this increased 6.4% to KRW 888.3 billion. The proportion of non-interest income in total operating revenue is around 35%.
In particular, cumulative commission and platform revenue in the third quarter was recorded at 256.3 billion won, a 10.9% increase compared to the same period last year.
The amount of loans extended to affiliated financial companies through Kakao Bank's loan comparison service in the third quarter was KRW 1.4 trillion, a 14% increase compared to the same period last year.
As of the third quarter, the net interest margin (NIM) was 2.15%, an increase of 0.34 percentage points from the same period last year (1.81%).
While the balance of household deposits at domestic banks decreased in the third quarter, Kakao Bank's deposit balance increased by 9.2% (KRW 6.063 trillion) compared to the same period last year to 71.85 trillion won as both demand deposits and savings deposits expanded.
The loan balance was 48.6 trillion won as of the end of the third quarter.
Efforts to provide inclusive financing for small business owners and those with low to medium credit continued.
Even as loans to individual business owners decreased in the banking sector, supply was expanded, and Kakao Bank's loan balance to individual business owners at the end of the third quarter recorded KRW 4.036 trillion, an increase of KRW 349 billion from the previous quarter.
The amount of new mid- and low-credit loans handled by Kakao Bank in the third quarter was about 510 billion won, and it had supplied a total of about 1.5 trillion won worth of mid- and low-credit loans as of the third quarter of this year.
Following its non-face-to-face pre-sale balance loan, Kakao Bank plans to expand its mortgage loan coverage by launching new products such as interim payment loans next year.
The delinquency rate and substandard and below loan rate in the third quarter were 0.49% and 0.53%, respectively, an improvement of 0.02%p and 0.01%p, respectively, compared to the previous quarter.
The customer base continues to expand.
Kakao Bank's number of customers at the end of the third quarter was 27.94 million, with 1.7 million new customers added over the past year.
The number of monthly active users (MAU) in the third quarter was 20.57 million, recording the highest traffic ever.
The ratio of Kakao Bank customers (penetration rate) to population by age also increased across all age groups.
It was analyzed that three out of four (75%) of the new customers who signed up for Kakao Bank in the past year were minors and people in their 50s or older.
The number of group account users and balance were calculated to be 13.3 million and 12.1 trillion won, respectively. Kakao Bank plans to expand its receiving portfolio by launching a new product this month, 'Stealth Account' with the concept of 'a secret account that only you know'.
Kakao Bank said, “We will diversify our business model based on our receiving and platform capabilities to promote balanced growth in interest and non-interest income, while expanding the shareholder return rate for profits in fiscal 2026 to 50%.”
