Headquarters of Shinhan, Woori, KB and Hana financial groups / Korea Times file

KB Financial Group registered an all-time high net income of 5.07 trillion won ($3.5 billion) last year, underpinned by strong interest income and nonbank profits from securities, cards and insurance subsidiaries, market watchers said Friday.

This was the first for a financial group to surpass 5 trillion won in net profit, with its three peers — Shinhan, Hana and Woori — posting robust figures of at least 3 trillion won.

KB's net income came to 5.07 trillion won, up 10.5 percent from the previous year's 4.59 trillion won.

Net interest income jumped 5.3 percent to reach 12.82 trillion won.

The year-on-year increase is noteworthy since its net interest margin slid to 2.03 percent, down 0.05 percentage points from the previous year's 2.08 percent.

Net fee income came to 3.84 trillion won, up 4.8 percent from 3.67 trillion won the previous year.

A 99.7 billion won increase in credit card fees and an overall increase in brokerage fees in the investment banking division boosted growth.

As for the fourth quarter, net income stood at 682.9 billion won, slumping 57.7 percent.

This was due to an increase in retirement package payouts, as well as losses in securities, derivatives and foreign exchange portfolio amid Korean currency depreciation against the U.S. dollar and flagging performance of the equity market.

Hana Financial Group's net income last year came to an all-time high of 3.73 trillion won, up 9.3 percent from the previous year's 3.42 trillion won.

Its key income total of 10.8 trillion won included 8.76 trillion won in interest income and 2.06 trillion won in fee income, up 1.5 percent from a year earlier.

Interest income inched down 1.3 percent, but fee income from credit cards, loans and foreign exchange products jumped 2.73 trillion won, up 15.2 percent from the previous year.

Hana decided to buy 400 trillion won worth of shares for cancellation. Its per-share dividend payout will be 1,800 won as of the end of 2024.

Shinhan Financial Group posted a net profit of over 4.5 trillion won, up 3.4 percent from 4.3 trillion won in 2023.

Interest income rose to 11.4 trillion won, up 5.4 percent.

An increase in loan assets translated into higher interest rates, which rose 7.3 percent.

Noninterest income, including fees, came to 3.25 trillion won, down 5 percent.

A 2.6 percent increase in fee income failed to offset poor performance in securities, foreign exchange derivatives and insurance products.

The group decided to pay a per-share dividend of 540 won for the fourth quarter of last year to bolster shareholder returns.

It also decided to buy back and cancel 500 billion won of its treasury shares.

Woori Financial Group's net profit came to 3.08 trillion won last year, up 23.1 percent from a year earlier.

It decided to buy back 150 billion won of firm shares for cancellation, up 10 percent from the previous year.