A headquarters of the Financial Supervisory Service / Korea Times file

The combined net profit of financial holding companies in Korea grew from a year earlier in the first six months of the year thanks to a sharp increase in returns from their insurance business, data showed Friday.

In the January-June period, the combined net profit of 10 financial holding firms here came to 14.05 trillion won ($10.55 billion), up 447 billion won, or 3.3 percent, from the same period last year, according to the preliminary data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

Net income from their banks accounted for 54.5 percent of the total, while earnings from their insurance firms accounted for 15.3 percent of their combined net profit, with returns on their financial investments also accounting for 15.3 percent of the total.

Still, the on-year increase in their combined net profit was largely attributed to insurance companies, whose combined net profit jumped 13.3 percent from a year earlier to 287.8 billion won, while that of banks dropped by 455.3 billion won, or 5.0 percent, according to the financial regulator.

As of end-June, the combined total assets of the financial holding firms had stood at 3,672.7 trillion won, up 142 trillion won, or 4.0 percent, from six months earlier.

Their nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio came to 0.90 percent at end-June, up 0.18 percentage point from 0.72 percent at end-December.

Amid a rise in the NPL ratio, the firms' loan loss reserve ratio dropped to 121.1 percent from 150.6 percent over the cited period.

The 10 financial holding firms are KB Financial Group, Shinhan Financial Group, NongHyup Financial Group, Hana Financial Group, Woori Financial Group, BNK Financial Group, DGB Financial Group, JB Financial Group, Korea Investment Holdings and Meritz Financial Group.

The companies had a total of 333 financial affiliates as of end-June, up from 329 tallied six months earlier. (Yonhap)