Kbank headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Kbank

Kbank is maintaining a strong growth trajectory, with its net profit for the third quarter expanding 180.6 percent from the same period last year.

The nation's first internet-only bank recorded 37 billion won ($26.3 million) net income for the July to September period, which is the highest for any third quarter in the bank's history. Its accumulated net income for the first three quarters this year totaled 122.4 billion won, up 220.2 percent from the previous year.

Kbank also continued to expand its customer base. Its customers totaled 12.05 million as of the end of the third quarter, as new customers were drawn to high interest rates offered by the "Plus Box" parking account as well as checking accounts providing cash rewards for transactions.

From September, Plus Box introduced an annual interest rate of 3 percent for large-sum deposits exceeding 50 million won, while removing the deposit limit. It led to an influx of the "mass affluent" customer segment, with the number of high-deposit customers jumping 25 percent in just two months.

As of the end of the third quarter, deposits at Kbank reached 22 trillion won, which is up 27.4 percent from a year ago.

The bank's loan balances also increased 26.4 percent to 16.2 trillion won, led by mortgage loans. The balance of Kbank's apartment mortgage loans increased by 470 billion won, 70 percent of which was refinancing loans for customers seeking to reduce the interest burden. The proportion of secured loans, including guaranteed loans, rose to 51.8 percent of Kbank's total loan portfolio, surpassing 50 percent for the first time.

Its interest income for the third quarter stood at 107.4 billion won, while noninterest income amounted to 12 billion won.

For noninterest income, Kbank launched domestic bonds and U.S. Treasury investment services as well as a Stock Collection service. The bank also introduced the Investment Tab, which consolidates investment tools such as stocks, cryptocurrencies, bonds, gold, fractional investment in art, unlisted stocks and IPO investments. It started overseas payment services using QR codes to broaden its income sources.

The bank's financial soundness continued improving by increasing portion of safe assets and stronger customer screening. Delinquency ratio stood at 0.88 percent in the third quarter, falling for three consecutive quarters. The Bank for International Settlements, or BIS capital adequacy ratio, meanwhile, rose to 14.42 percent, an increase of 0.56 percentage points from the previous quarter. The net interest margin stood at 2.07 percent.

Kbank plans to continue its growth by increasing loans to small businesses as well as enhancing refinancing loans and expanding the types of collateral it handles.

Kbank CEO Choi Woo-hyung said, "We achieved record results in the third quarter while also improving financial soundness. Next year, we plan to expand our customer base through listing and focus on the development of a wider range of retail products, expansion of the SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) loan market and strengthening of technological capabilities."