The Financial Supervisory Service said on the 27th that net income of stand-alone card companies in the first half of this year was 1.2934 trillion won, up 68.3 billion won (5.6%) from the same period a year earlier (1.2251 trillion won).
Total revenue for the same period was 14.5875 trillion won, up 251.8 billion won from a year earlier. While card loan revenue fell by 50.5 billion won, merchant fee revenue and installment card fee revenue rose by 196.3 billion won and 100.2 billion won, respectively.
Total costs were 13.2941 trillion won, up 183.5 billion won from a year earlier. Although credit loss expenses decreased by 66.1 billion won, card-related costs and selling, general and administrative expenses rose by 162.6 billion won and 143.2 billion won, respectively.
However, net income after loan loss reserve provisioning was 926.6 billion won, down 325.8 billion won (26%) from a year earlier. The amount set aside for loan loss reserves jumped from a reversal of 27.3 billion won in the first half of last year to a provisioning of 366.8 billion won in the first half of this year.
Card companies' asset soundness indicators worsened slightly. As of the end of June, the total receivables arrears rate of stand-alone card companies was 1.54%, up 0.02 percentage point (p) from the end of last year. The arrears rate for card receivables was 1.61%, up 0.07 p over the same period. The substandard-and-below loan ratio was 1.13%, down 0.02 p from the end of last year.
Non-card specialized credit finance companies showed a larger improvement in performance than card companies. In the first half of this year, net income of 189 non-card specialized credit finance companies, including installment finance, leasing, and new technology finance companies, was 2.2352 trillion won, up 452.3 billion won (25.4%) from the same period a year earlier (1.7829 trillion won). Total revenue of non-card specialized credit finance companies increased by 696.1 billion won from a year earlier. Leasing, rental, and installment revenue rose by 154.6 billion won, and revenue related to marketable securities and new technology finance also increased by 265.5 billion won and 220.3 billion won, respectively.
Non-card specialized credit finance companies' asset soundness indicators worsened slightly. As of the end of June, the arrears rate was 2.29%, up 0.18 p from the end of last year, and the substandard-and-below loan ratio was 2.85%, up 0.19 p over the same period. The loan loss allowance coverage ratio was 133%, down 1.5 p from the end of last year, but all non-card specialized credit finance companies exceeded 100%.