JB Financial Group's third-quarter operating profit rises 19.8 percent

JB Financial Group said Tuesday its third-quarter operating profit rose 19.8 percent on-year to 95.1 billion won ($70.9 million).

Operating profit climbed from 79.4 billion won ($59.2 million) in the same quarter of 2025, according to the company's preliminary consolidated results. Net income for the quarter came to 210 billion won ($157 million), up 0.8 percent from a year earlier and the highest for any quarter, though it was 4.4 percent below the 220 billion won recorded in the second quarter.

Choi Jin-seok, head of JB Financial Group's external cooperation division, said the foreigner-focused lending group's balance grew 9.3 percent to 1.18 trillion won ($880 million) in the third quarter from 1.08 trillion won ($805 million) in the second, while auto-backed loans increased 11.4 percent to 2.93 trillion won ($2.18 billion) from 2.63 trillion won ($1.96 billion) over the same period.

For the first nine months of the year, net income attributable to controlling shareholders totalled 596 billion won ($444 million), up 2.9 percent from 579 billion won ($432 million) a year earlier and the group's largest nine-month figure on record. That puts JB Financial at 79.4 percent of its full-year target of 750 billion won ($559 million) for 2026.

The group's net interest margin narrowed to 3.07 percent in the third quarter, down 5 basis points from the previous three months, while asset quality weakened. The overdue-loan ratio rose to 1.76 percent and the nonperforming-loan ratio to 1.57 percent, and the common equity tier 1 ratio stood at 12.39 percent.

"I cannot give you an exact figure, but overall I expect the net interest margin to rebound, with the third quarter as the bottom," Chairman Kim Ki-hong said.

The group also plans to rebalance its loan book toward higher-yielding tier 1 assets and to pursue both profitability gains tied to its capital ratios and larger shareholder returns. It has decided to inject 220 billion won ($164 million) into its subsidiary JB Woori Capital to strengthen its capital adequacy and expand its lending capacity.

"We will continue to strengthen profitability based on a stable capital ratio while steadily expanding our shareholder return policy to enhance corporate value," a JB Financial Group official said.