Shinhan Financial more than doubles second quarter net income

Shinhan Financial's second-quarter earnings more than doubled from a year ago on a rise in non-interest income and lower loan-loss reserves.

The group posted a net profit of 964.8 billion won or US$910.5 million in the April-June period, from 447.6 billion won a year earlier.

The second-quarter bottom line, however, was weaker than the market consensus of 982.8 billion won. 

Revenue slipped 5.2 percent on-year to 8.5 trillion won, but operating profit more than doubled to 1.27 trillion won from last year's 558.2 billion won.

In the first half of the year, net income reached 1.89 trillion won, up 38.4 percent from the previous year.

The group explained that its stronger bottom line came on the back of a decline in loan-loss reserves and a rise in non-interest income.

"A sharp fall in costs for bad debts mainly contributed to the group's improved net profit," said Shinhan Financial.

The group, meanwhile, said its flagship Shinhan Bank logged a net profit of 785.5 billion won in the second-quarter, growing more than three-fold from 260.4 billion won a year ago.

Shinhan Financial said profits from its bank business accounted for 69 percent of the second-quarter earnings, while those from its non-bank units contributed to the remainder.

The full story is available at Yonhap News.