Kakao Bank's earnings skyrocket ninefold in Q2

The bank’s outstanding loans came at $14.9b as of end-June.

South Korea’s top internet-only lender Kakao Bank saw its Q2 earnings soar nearly ninefold mainly due to more interest income, reports Yonhap News Agency, based on data from the lender’s regulatory filing.

Net profit came to $22.5m (KRW26.8b) in the April-June period, up 793.3% from a year earlier, the lender said in a regulatory filing.

In the first half of the year, the bank's bottom line also spiked 372% on-year to $38.21m (KRW45.3b).

Kakao Bank—which is under Kakao Corp, operator of messaging app KakaoTalk—attributed the performance to higher interest income and a fall in losses from its non-interest business.

As of end-June, Kakao Bank's outstanding loans came to almost $14.91b (17.68t) at the end of June, with its assets totaling $20.57b (KRW24.4t).

Its net interest margin, or the difference between interest paid and interest received, stood at 1.6% with the loan delinquency rate reaching 0.22%.

On the other hand, the bank’s capital adequacy ratio is at 14.03% as of end-June, down from 14.29 percent three months earlier. The ratio is a key barometer of financial soundness.