April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korea's six commercial banks paid 2.77 trillion won (US$2.59 billion) in dividends to shareholders in 2017 following solid profits, corporate data showed on April 8.

The total is the highest paid out since 3.18 trillion worth of dividends reported in 2011, the latest findings based on the annual report of lenders showed. This represents a 872 billion-won, or 45.8 percent, surge from the previous year, the latest findings showed.

The six lenders are KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, KEB Hana Bank, Citibank Korea and Standard Chartered Bank Korea.

The dividend payout ratio, which is the percentage of dividends to net profit, reached 34.59 percent last year from 32.16 percent reached in 2016.

Banks said that the increase in dividend payments reflects the sharp 35.5 percent spike in net income that reached a combined 8.02 trillion won.

Of the leading lenders, KEB Hana Bank gave by far the most dividends at 2.1 trillion won, with its payout ratio reaching 46.24 percent. The bank’s dividends also shot up 62 percent from a year earlier.

This was followed by KB Kookmin and Shinhan banks that offered 640.1 billion won and 540 billion won to shareholders last year, respectively, with Woori, Citibank and Standard Chartered trailing the leaders.

By Park Ga-young and newswires (gypark@heraldcorp.com)