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K bank's headquarters in central Seoul (K bank) |
K bank, South Korea’s first internet-only bank, saw its third-quarter earnings surge 115 percent from the previous quarter on the growing number of customers and amount of money deposited, officials said Tuesday.
It was the first time the bank posted a net profit for two quarters in a row since its inception in 2017. It posted its first quarterly profit of 3.9 billion won ($3.32 million) three months ago, marking a sharp turnaround from a deficit of 12.3 billion won in the first quarter.
The company’s solid third-quarter profit was mainly attributable to its partnership with Dunamu, the operator of cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, since June last year.
The number of its customers came to 6.6 million as of end-September, up 4.41 million from the end of last year. Its outstanding customer deposits and outstanding loans totaled 12.31 trillion won and 6.18 trillion won, respectively, over the cited period, up 8.51 trillion won and 3.19 trillion won.
K bank is owned by a consortium comprising telecom giant KT, Woori Bank and 19 other firms.
By Jie Ye-eun (
yeeun@heraldcorp.com)
