Kookmin Bank poised to achieve pre-crisis profits in 2011

Costs incurred from massive job cuts and other factors cut down the lender’s profit to $10mn last year compared with $2.49bn in 2007.

Kookmin Bank, South Korea's top lender, will recover to pre-financial crisis levels of profit this year, chief executive Min Byong-deok said on Tuesday.

The remarks, confirmed by a company spokesman, come after Kookmin posted a thin 11.2 billion won ($10.3 million) net profit last year on hefty provisioning charges including costs associated with massive job cuts.

In 2007, the company, now the banking arm of KB Financial Group, reported over 2.7 trillion won ($2.49 billion) in net profit, according to a report in Reuters.

Local newspaper the Korea Economic Daily also quoted the bank's chief executive as saying it would boost assets by 6 percent this year.