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[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] Woori Financial Group posted its best-ever performance in the first quarter. This is due to the Bank of Korea's increase in interest income as lending rates rose due to the Bank of Korea's key interest rate hike.

Woori Finance announced on the 24th that its net profit for the first quarter of this year was KRW 911.3 billion. It increased by 8.6% (72.1 billion won) from the first quarter of last year (839.2 billion won). Based on the first quarter, it is the largest since the launch of the holding company in 2019.

Woori Bank, its flagship company, posted a net profit of KRW 859.5 billion in the first quarter, up 20% (KRW 143.1 billion) from KRW 716.4 billion in the first quarter of last year, leading to strong performance. On the other hand, Woori Card and Woori Financial Capital's net profit fell 46.3% and 20.4%, respectively, to 45.8 billion won and 39.3 billion won, compared to the same period last year.

Due to Woori Bank's expanded interest income, Woori Financial Group's first-quarter interest income reached 2.2188 trillion won, up 11.6% (231.1 billion won) from 1.9877 trillion won in the first quarter of last year. Analysts say that the key interest rate rose 2.25 percentage points from 1.25 percent a year in the first quarter of last year to 3.5 percent a year in the first quarter of this year. 

 

Woori Finance's net interest margin (NIM) in the first quarter was 1.65%, which was larger than the first quarter of last year (1.49%). However, due to the drop in market interest rates this year, it decreased by 0.03% point compared to the fourth quarter of last year (1.68%). Non-interest income fell 13.4% from 383 billion won in the first quarter of last year to 331.7 billion won in the first quarter of this year due to increased costs stemming from rising exchange rates.

 

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