Korea Business News Agency - NSP NEWS AGENCY.

(Seoul=NSP NEWS AGENCY) = Kbank, an internet-only bank, announced a turnaround in performance ahead of its initial public offering(IPO) this year.

It has grown in both size and strength, attracting 800,000 new customers. The deposit fee rate due to the implementation of the ‘Virtual Asset User Protection Act’, which was said to be a fatal weakness, is not a big problem. Even after the success of the IPO, the company plans to use the funds to expand into new businesses.

According to Kbank on the 14th, Kbank plans to conduct a preliminary review for listing within the first half of this year. As the CEO of Kbank attempted to re-try the IPO after taking office, the previously sluggish performance was given the title of ‘highest ever’ and the number of customers also increased more significantly than Kakao Bank, increasing confidence in the IPO. The market trend is also blowing differently from last year.

Kbank’s net profit in the first quarter of this year was KRW 50.7 billion, the highest quarterly performance ever. It grew nearly five times compared to the same period last year(KRW 10.4 billion). The receipt balance increased by 44.1% from KRW 16.64 trillion in the same period last year to KRW 23.97 trillion, and the loan balance increased by 23.6% from KRW 11.94 trillion to KRW 14.76 trillion during the same period.

The number of subscribers, which affects the profitability of internet-only banks, has also increased significantly. The number of Kbank subscribers in the first quarter was 10.33 million, an increase of 800,000 compared to the end of last year. Although the number of subscribers itself is still lower than that of Kakao Bank, the amount of increase alone is greater than that of Kakao Bank, which increased by 720,000. An increase in the number of subscribers leads to an expansion in the size of deposits and receipts.

A Kbank official said, “The IPO atmosphere itself is different from last year,” and added, “We will apply for a preliminary listing review in the first half of this year and successfully IPO within the year.”

However, people inside and outside the financial industry raised concerns that Kbank may have to charge hundreds of won in interest on Upbit deposits due to the implementation of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, which is scheduled to go into effect in July of this year.

By Soon-ki Lee(s8789@nspna.com) and Soo-in Kang(sink606@nspna.com)

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