Woori Card lifted its nine-month net profit on stronger credit card revenue, while the share of sales running through its own payment network doubled from a year earlier. Affiliate Woori Financial Capital saw revenue decline but kept net profit level with last year by trimming credit costs and administrative expenses.
Woori Card posted net profit of 134 billion won for the first nine months of this year, up 26.4% from a year earlier, according to financial industry sources on the 24th. Woori Financial Capital's nine-month net profit was 115 billion won, unchanged from the same period last year.
Woori Card expanded credit card revenue as it built out its proprietary payment network. Cards running on merchant networks the company secured directly accounted for 43.0% of sales in the third quarter, up from 21.5% a year earlier. Over the same period, the number of directly contracted merchants rose to 2.041 million from 1.87 million.
Credit card revenue climbed 10.2% to 1.776 trillion won as a result. Total operating revenue rose 10.3% from a year earlier to 2.351 trillion won. Interest expenses and fee and other costs increased 13.9% and 12.3%, respectively, but net operating revenue after those costs still expanded 5.5% to 804 billion won.
Earnings growth slowed in the third quarter, however, as cost pressures mounted. Third-quarter net profit alone fell 22.0% from the previous quarter to 39 billion won. Net operating revenue was little changed from the prior quarter, while credit costs and administrative expenses rose 7.9% and 3.7%, respectively.
At Woori Financial Capital, cost cuts cushioned a drop in core revenue. Nine-month interest income fell 1.9% from a year earlier to 153 billion won, and non-interest income dropped 10.7% to 159 billion won. Net operating revenue declined 6.9% to 312 billion won.
Credit costs set aside against soured loans fell 16.0% to 89 billion won. Administrative expenses were cut 6.3%, offsetting the revenue decline. Third-quarter net profit alone rose 2.7% from the previous quarter to 38 billion won.
In asset composition, corporate lending grew while retail lending shrank. Woori Financial Capital's total loan assets stood at 11.79 trillion won at the end of September, up 3.7% from a year earlier. Auto financing, its mainstay business, edged higher, while corporate lending jumped 21.9% to 2.964 trillion won. Retail lending fell 11.9% to 1.293 trillion won.