Kookmin Bank reported a loss yesterday of W318.5 billion $229 million for the quarter ending December 2008, due to worsening bad loan charges. It was the first quarterly deficit posted by Korea's biggest lender, a unit of KB Financial Group, since the fourth quarter of 2004. The loss compares with a net profit of W580.1 billion for the same period in 2007.
Kookmin was forced to make additional provisions for losses on loans made to Korean manufacturers. KB Financial set aside W1.2 trillion against potential loan losses, up from W311 billion a year earlier, and wrote off W692.3 billion in bad loans during the quarter.
The Financial Supervisory Service said yesterday that the ratio...
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