Group expects to reduce industry's heaviest banking reliance with planned insurance acquisitions
Woori Financial Group surpassed 3 trillion won ($2,06 billion) in annual net profit in 2024, with Woori Bank reaching the milestone for the first time.
The group on Friday reported a consolidated net profit of 3.08 trillion won, up 23.1 percent from the previous year, marking the second time it exceeded the 3 trillion won threshold since 2022.
Profitability improved, with return on equity rising by 1 percentage point on-year to 9.3 percent. Total income increased 6.1 percent to 10.44 trillion won, driven by a 1.6 percent rise in interest income to 8.89 trillion won. Non-interest income surged nearly 42 percent to 1.55 trillion won.
In the fourth quarter, net profit reached 426 billion won, sharply rebounding from 68.1 billion won a year earlier, though it more than halved from 904.4 billion won in the previous quarter due to valuation losses on the weakening won.
Among subsidiaries, Woori Bank posted a record 3.04 trillion won in consolidated net profit, up 21.3 percent on-year. Woori Card saw a 32.6 percent increase in net profit to 147.2 billion won, while Woori Investment Securities swung from a 54 billion won loss in 2023 to a 2.6 billion won profit.
Woori Financial’s dependence on its banking unit remained pronounced. Woori Bank accounted for 91.6 percent of total net income across its 14 subsidiaries, the highest among Korea’s four major financial groups and the only one exceeding 90 percent.
During Friday’s earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Lee Sung-wook highlighted the expectation that banking dependence will decrease this year, driven by the planned acquisitions of Tongyang Life Insurance and ABL Life Insurance.
“With these acquisitions, we aim to reduce the group’s reliance on banking by expanding our nonbanking portfolio and enhancing corporate value,” Lee said, projecting that the banking unit’s share of total profit will fall to 80 percent after the deals are completed.
The CFO also reassured that the acquisitions would have minimal impact on financial stability, with Common Equity Tier 1 capital steadily increasing since the fourth quarter. As of year-end, the company’s CET1 ratio, a key measure of financial stability, stood at 12.08 percent, up 0.13 percentage point from September. The company pledged to raise the ratio to 12.5 percent this year.
Meanwhile, the board approved a year-end cash dividend of 660 won per share for 2024, bringing the total annual dividend to a record 1,200 won per share. For this year, the board authorized a 150 billion won share buyback and cancellation program, a 10 percent increase from last year, with a target shareholder return of 35 to 40 percent.
By Choi Ji-won (jwc@heraldcorp.com)
