15-05-2025
SC Korea's Q1 earnings soars 174% on one-off base effect
Standard Chartered Bank Korea reported a 174 percent jump in first-quarter net profit, largely driven by a favorable base effect from a nonrecurring loss booked a year earlier.
The bank said Thursday that net profit for the January-March period reached 111.9 billion won ($80 million), up 174.3 percent from a year earlier.
The sharp increase was attributed to the absence of a 130 billion won provision booked in the first quarter of 2024 for equity-linked securities tied to Hong Kong stocks, which had significantly weighed on last year's earnings. SC Korea was the only foreign lender to have sold the ELS products.
Income from core business operations weakened, with operating profit falling 23 percent on-year to 136.6 billion won.
Net interest income declined 4.5 percent to 307.3 billion won, as loan growth was offset by narrowing net interest margins. Non-interest income also dropped 11.1 percent to 880 billion won, weighed down by lower wealth management fees and reduced gains from foreign exchange and derivatives trading.
Total assets rose by 7.5 trillion won from the end of December to 93.3 trillion won as of end-March, supported by growth in mortgage loans and derivatives-related assets. Return on assets improved to 0.51 percent, while return on equity rose to 8.23 percent.
The bank maintained strong capital buffers, with its BIS total capital adequacy ratio at 19.08 percent and its Common Equity Tier 1 ratio at 15.9 percent, both well above regulatory thresholds.
