Woori Finance suffers 63% dip in Q2 net

Woori Finance suffered a 63.1 percent dip on its second-quarter earnings on higher loan-loss reserves and a falling profit margin.

Net income amounted to 292.6 billion won or $258.7 million in the April-June period, compared with a profit of 792.3 billion won a year earlier, the group said in a regulatory filing.

In the first half, net profit reached 937.6 billion won, also down 27.6 percent from a year earlier, it added.

The group said its weaker bottom line came as it put aside more reserves to brace for corporate reshuffles of ailing firms and its profit margin declined.

The group allocated 924.9 billion won in loan-loss reserves in the second quarter, up 113 percent from three months ago, it added.

Its net interest margin (NIM), a gauge of profitability, came in at 2.4 percent in the second quarter, down from 2.54 percent three months earlier. It allocated 924.9 billion won in loan-loss reserves in the second quarter, up 113 percent from three months ago.

Woori Finance's interest income amounted to 1.84 trillion won last quarter, down 1.3 percent from three months earlier.

The group's total assets stood at 405 trillion won as of end-June, almost unchanged from three months earlier.

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