South Korea’s Hana Financial Group reported a 24.3 percent increase in cumulative net profit for the first nine months of this year, thanks to improved performances of both banking and non-banking units including credit sales and brokerage commissions.

According to its regulatory filing on Friday, Hana Financial Group posted 1.54 trillion won ($1.36 billion) in cumulative net profit for the first nine months of this year, a 24.3 percent increase over the same period last year. The cumulative figure is not only the highest for the term in five years but it already exceeds 1.3 trillion won in net profit raised for the full year in 2016 on a consolidated basis.

Hana Financial Group’s net profit for the third quarter ended September reached 510 billion won, up 13.3 percent from a year ago. Its interest income for the cited period was 1.3 trillion won, up 3.5 percent from the previous quarter while commission income reached 517.2 billion won, up 4.2 percent over the same period.

KEB Hana Bank, a key lending unit of Hana Financial Group, achieved a cumulative net income of 1.5 trillion won in the January-September period, up 20 percent from a year ago and the highest for the term after its merger with Korea Exchange Bank in 2015.

The lender’s net income for the third quarter ended September totaled 514.4 billion won, up 11.4 percent from the same period last year, thanks to improved lending margin.

Hana Card’s cumulative net profit for the first nine months of this year also surged 64 percent from a year ago to 97.3 billion won, thanks to increased credit-based spending. Hana Financial Investment also generated 92.4 billion won in net profit over the same period, up 59.6 percent from a year ago, largely on a rise in commissions from fund sales and investment banking business.

By Chung Ji-sung and Lee Eun-joo

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