Meritz Financial Group to receive 249 billion won interim dividend

Meritz Financial Group expects to receive a 249 billion won ($175 million) interim cash dividend from Meritz Fire, its wholly owned subsidiary, after the unit's board approved the payout on the 5th.

The board set the payment at 2,377 won ($2) a share, covering 104.535 million shares eligible for the dividend. It set the 5th as both the board resolution date and the dividend record date. Meritz Financial owns 100% of Meritz Fire and expects to receive the entire distribution.

Meritz Fire is unlisted, so it did not calculate a market-price dividend yield for the payment.

For the first quarter of 2026, the group reported consolidated net income of 680.2 billion won ($479 million). "Despite persistent internal and external uncertainty, including lower profits from differences between expected and actual insurance claims and risks stemming from the Middle East, the group's net income rose 9.6% from a year earlier due to improved investment income at each affiliate," Meritz Financial Group's investor-relations team said.

"High exchange-rate and high-interest-rate conditions have been proactively managed since last year, and we are actively hedging construction suspensions and marine insurance. Even in the worst-case scenario, we expect the impact on the company to be minimal," Chief Risk Officer Oh Jong-won said. The group said it is addressing geopolitical risk through liability-for-completion conditions in real-estate project financing.

Meritz Fire, the group's non-life insurer, reported separate first-quarter net income of 466.1 billion won ($329 million), up 0.8% from a year earlier. Its insurance profit fell 7.0% from a year earlier as respiratory-disease claims and targeted anticancer-treatment costs increased, while investment profit rose 13.0% on higher equity valuation gains and partial reversals of loan-loss provisions. Its preliminary K-ICS ratio was 240.7% at the end of the first quarter.

The holding company said it will continue shareholder returns centered on share buybacks and cancellations, citing returns from those actions above its 10% required rate of return.