Hana Securities forecasted on the 7th that it will be difficult for KakaoBank to achieve its annual growth target due to government loan regulations. However, there remains optimism regarding new businesses such as the virtual bank being pursued in Southeast Asia and stablecoins at the Kakao Group level. The target stock price has been lowered from 40,000 won to 36,000 won, while the investment opinion remains 'buy.'
KakaoBank's net profit for the second quarter of this year was 126.3 billion won, an increase of 5% compared to the same period last year. This figure aligns with Hana Securities' expectations (consensus). While the loan growth rate and net interest margin (NIM) fell short of expectations, a decrease in loan loss provisions allowed it to achieve results close to what was anticipated.
As the government pushes for stringent loan regulations, the impact of these policies is expected to continue. Household loans in the second quarter increased by only 0.6% compared to the previous quarter, and while loans to individual businesses increased by 12.5%, the pace of growth is slowing. KakaoBank is planning to expand policy loans that are more affected by regulations, but since most commercial banks have similar business plans, the growth effect is unlikely to be significant.
Nevertheless, optimism regarding new businesses persists. KakaoBank has invested in Indonesia's SuperBank, which is showing rapid growth, and it also has plans to enter the virtual banking market in collaboration with the Thai SCBX consortium. There are analyses suggesting that Kakao Group will not fall behind in technological capabilities, especially with the recent attention on stablecoins and the launch of a task force (TF).