KEB Q4 net falls 22.8 %

Korea Exchange Bank's earnings sank 22.8 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier due to a non-interest loss and rising costs.

Net income came in at US$214 million in the October-December period, compared with 306.4 billion won the previous year, the bank said in a regulatory filing.

But KEB's fourth-quarter earnings were better than a market consensus of 210.5 billion won compiled by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.

Compared with three months earlier, the lender's net profit fell 18.5 percent as it booked a one-off gain of 87.3 billion won by selling its stakes in Hynix Semiconductor Inc. in the third quarter.

For all of 2010, its net profit rose 18.4 percent on-year to 1.06 trillion won.

 "A gain in the 2010 earnings came as total income was on the rise and credit costs were reduced," the bank said in a statement.

  
 KEB's net interest margin, a gauge of profitability, came in at 2.82 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 2.5 percent seen in the third quarter as the central bank had started to raise the key rate.