Woori Financial Q4'20 net income falls 19.4% YOY

South Korea-based Woori Financial Group Inc. reported a 19.4% year-over-year decline in net income for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2020.

For the fourth quarter, the group's net income attributable to controlling interests fell to 166.50 billion South Korean won from 206.51 billion won in the prior-year period, according to a Feb. 5 earnings report.

Net operating revenue climbed to 1.698 trillion won from 1.671 trillion won as interest income rose to 1.570 trillion won from 1.477 trillion won. Fee income also increased to 282.99 billion won from 261.88 billion won.

Meanwhile, operating income nearly halved to 232.64 billion won from 430.27 billion won. Credit loss provisions for the quarter came to 197.65 billion won, much higher than the 50.49 billion won a year earlier.

The group's net interest margin for the quarter stood at 1.53%, down from 1.57% in the prior quarter and 1.63% in the prior-year period. Nonperforming loan ratio stood at 0.42% as of Dec. 31, 2020, compared to 0.40% and 0.45% as of Sept. 30, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2019, respectively.

For the full year, the group's consolidated net income attributable to controlling interest declined 30.2% year over year to 1.307 trillion won from 1.872 trillion won.

At the Woori Bank unit, net income attributable to controlling interest for the fourth quarter fell 4.0% to 204.58 billion won from 213.09 billion won.

At the end of 2020, Woori Financial's BIS ratio clocked in at 13.7%, down from 14.4% at the end of September 2020 but up from 11.9% at the end of December 2019. Its Tier 1 and common equity Tier 1 ratio for the period came in at 11.7% and 10.0%, respectively, compared with 12.3% and 10.6%, respectively, in the prior quarter and from 9.9% and 8.4%, respectively, in the prior-year period.

As of Feb. 5, US$1 was equivalent to 1,120.19 South Korean won.