Major financial groups enjoy strong Q3 earnings, but face mounting regulatory pressure

Korea’s four largest financial groups — KB, Shinhan, Hana and Woori — have shown strong earnings for the third quarter of this year, posting a combined 5.76 trillion won ($4.31 billion) in net profit. But a recent wave of cyberattacks and data breaches, as well as tougher regulatory scrutiny of corporate governance, are adding to the challenges they face, industry officials said Thursday. According to market data, KB Financial Group led the pack with a third-quarter net profit of 1.91 trillion won, up 13.1 percent from a year earlier. Its cumulative profit for the first nine months reached a record 5.79 trillion won. Shinhan followed with 1.58 trillion won, an 11.3 percent increase from the same period last year. Its nine-month net profit also hit a record, at 5.03 trillion won. Hana logged a net profit of 1.22 trillion won, its highest quarterly figure since the 2015 merger of Hana Bank and Korea Exchange Bank. Woori was the only one of the four to post a decline, with net profit falling 15.7 percent to 1.04 trillion won. Even so, it recorded a quarterly profit of over 1 trillion