Shinhan Financial's net profit slips 14 pct in Q1

SEOUL, April 20 (Yonhap) -- Shinhan Financial Group Co., a major South Korean banking group, said Friday its net profit fell 14 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier due to a one-off factor.

First-quarter net profit stood at 857.5 billion won (US$804.3 million) compared with a profit of 997.1 billion won a year ago, Shinhan Financial said in a regulatory filing.

Shinhan Financial saw its net profit jump for the first-quarter of last year as one of its affiliates, Shinhan Card Co., returned 275.8 billion won worth of loan-loss provisions to the financial group.

Excluding the one-off factor, Shinhan Financial's net profit rose 18.9 percent from the previous year for the January-March period, the financial group said.

Shinhan Financial's interest income rose 10.1 percent on-year to 2.05 trillion won for the quarter.

Its interest margin, a key barometer of profitability, rose 0.04 percentage point to 2.1 percent in the first quarter.

Flagship Shinhan Bank saw its net profit gain 12.3 percent on-year to 600.5 billion won for the first quarter.

Shinhan Bank's interest income rose 14.1 percent on-year to 1.3 trillion won for the quarter.
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