Woori Financial Group reported on the 7th that it recorded a net income of 3.086 trillion won last year. This marks a 23.1% increase compared to the previous year and is the second-highest performance in history, following 2022's 3.169 trillion won.
Woori Financial's annual interest income was 8.8863 trillion won, an increase of 1.6% compared to the previous year (8.7425 trillion won). Woori Financial noted, "The establishment of specialized branches for small and medium-sized enterprises led to a 9% increase in corporate loans." Last year's non-interest income was 1.5541 trillion won, which is a 41.9% increase from the previous year (1.0948 trillion won).
The group's common equity tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio was 12.08%, exceeding the regulatory level of 12%. Woori Financial's CET1 in the last third quarter was 11.96%. CET1 is a solvency indicator that assesses dividend capacity. Domestic financial holding companies use CET1 capital over 13% for dividends. Woori Financial said, "Despite the 0.4 percentage point reduction in CET1 due to a surge in the exchange rate of 150 won in the last fourth quarter, it rose by 0.13 percentage points compared to the previous quarter thanks to comprehensive risk-weighted asset management efforts."
The ratio of non-performing loans (NPL), an asset quality indicator, slightly increased year-over-year, with the group at 0.57% and banks at 0.23%.
Woori Financial's board of directors resolved a year-end dividend of 660 won per share. Last year's total annual dividend reached a record high of 1,200 won per share. In addition, there are plans to buy back and retire 150 billion won of treasury shares this year, which is approximately a 10% increase compared to the previous year.