▲ The corporate logo of KB Financial Group provided by the company. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

KB Financial Group-Q1 earnings

KB Financial Group's Q1 net profit inches up on higher non-banking profit

SEOUL, April 27 (Yonhap) -- Major South Korean financing holding firm KB Financial Group Inc. said Thursday its net profit inched up 2.5 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier thanks largely to the higher profits of its non-banking units.

Net profit for the three months ended in March rose to 1.49 trillion won (US$1.11 billion) from 1.46 trillion won during the same period of last year, the financial group said in a statement.

KB Financial Group attributed the increased net profit to a recovery in the profitability of its non-banking units, an improved net interest margin (NIM) and cost-cutting efforts.

KB Financial said its NIM, or the difference between interest paid and interest received, came to 2.04 percent as of end-March, compared with 1.99 percent from the previous quarter.

KB Securities Co. registered a net profit of 140.6 billion won in the first quarter, posting an on-year increase of 23 percent, and KB Insurance Co. registered a net profit of 253.8 billion won, posting a 25.7 percent on-year increase.

The net profit of flagship KB Kookmin Bank, however, fell 4.7 percent over the same period to 931.5 billion won as it set aside 321 billion won worth of loan loss provisions.

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