[Apha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] Hana Securities predicted on the 21st that Kakao Bank will continue to grow at a high rate of 10% in the third quarter of this year.

"Kakao Bank, which surged 15.7 percent on-quarter and surprisingly high growth in the second quarter of this year, posted a loan growth rate of more than 5 percent last month, focusing on mortgage loans," Hana Securities said in a related report.

Hana Securities went on to say, "The future growth rate is likely to slow down slightly as the financial authorities have recently called for tougher management to prevent the rapid expansion of household loans, but the loan growth rate in the third quarter is expected to exceed 10%."

The decline in net interest margin (NIM), which fell 36bp (1bp=0.01% point) in the second quarter of this year from the previous quarter, is expected to slow down.

"As the loan growth rate exceeds 10% and NIM falls slightly, net interest profit in the third quarter will jump nearly 9∼10% compared to the previous quarter," Hana Securities said. "As a result, net profit in the third quarter is estimated to be about 87 billion won."

Currently, Hana Securities' target price of Kakao Bank is 33,000 won and investment opinion is 'buy'.

 

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