Seoul: South Korean banks' combined net profit jumped more than 18 percent from a year earlier in the first half of the year on a sharp rise in non-interest income that more than offset a slight drop in interest income, data showed Thursday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the combined net profit of 20 banks came to 14.9 trillion won (US$10.66 billion) in the January-June period, up 2.3 trillion won, or 18.4 percent, from 12.6 trillion won a year earlier, as per the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Their interest income came to 29.7 trillion won in the first half, down 0.1 trillion won, or 0.4 percent, from a year earlier.
Non-interest income came to 5.2 trillion won, up 3.4 trillion won, or 53 percent, over the cited period, according to the FSS.
The banks set aside 3.2 trillion won in loan-loss reserves in the first half, up 600 billion won, or 23 percent, from a year before.
The banks' return on assets ratio rose to 0.75 percent in the first half from the 0.67 percent a year earlier, while their return on equity ratio rose 1.08 percentage points to 10.18 percent over the cited period, the data showed.