Kakao Bank announces record-high performance in 2022

South Korea's KakaoBank Corp. on Wednesday said its net profit last year reached a record-high 263.1 billion won ($208.6 million), up 28.9% from 2021 thanks to rising interest rates and expansion of loan provisions.

The internet-only bank plans to buy back and retire its own stocks soon to expand returns to shareholders.

Kakao Bank's strong performance was driven by its interest income last year of 1.2 trillion won, up 64.6% from 2021. Its net interest margin (NIM) surged to 2.83% in last year's fourth quarter from 2.13% year on year thanks to the base rate hike and expansion of loans to low and mid-credit borrowers.

The amount of the bank's mortgage loans launched last year exceeded 1 trillion won, boosting its loan growth.

"The coverage rate in the entire mortgage loan market is about 32%, and we plan to more than double that this year," said Kakao Bank Chief Operating Officer Kim Seok.

To this end, Kakao Bank will expand the target of its housing loans to villas and multi-plex homes and launch loans for pre-sale apartment and home purchases.

Operating revenue surged 50.8% year on year to 1.6 trillion won and operating profit rose 37.5% to 353.2 billion won.

Asset soundness deteriorated, however, with the delinquency rate more than doubling from 0.22% in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 0.49% in that of last year and the non-performing loan ratio rising from 0.22% to 0.36%.

Write to Nan-Sae Bin at binthere@hankyung.com