Earnings Labs

KB Financial Group Inc. (KB)

Q3 2014 Earnings Call· Fri, Oct 24, 2014

$106.93

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Transcript

Kyu Sul Choi

Management

My name is Kyu Sul Choi the Head of IR at KB Financial Group. Thank you for taking part in today’s earnings conference call of KB Financial Group for Q3 2014. The access to this conference is being provided via Internet and conference call, being webcast real-time for Korea and abroad. During the Q&A, you may call in to ask questions. Joining us in today's earnings conference, we have with us KBFG's Acting Chairman, Woong-Won Yoon; and executives from KB Kookmin Bank and credit card. The conference will consist of the earnings presentation by our CFO/Acting Chairman, Woong-Won Yoon, on the earnings results for Q3 2014, followed by a Q&A session, at which time you may call in for questions. Let me now present our Acting Chair, Woong-Won Yoon, for the earnings presentation.

Woong-Won Yoon

Management

[Interpreted] Good afternoon. My name is Woong-Won Yoon, the CFO of KB Financial Group. Before going into the earnings results, I would like to provide a brief overview of our business for the Q3 2014. After posting rather lackluster Group results for Q1 of this year, operations normalized from Q2 sustaining an improvement trend in Q3. Across loan growth and NIM enhancement and improved G&A, the overall operational results showed an enhancement trend. We anticipate stable earnings going into the next quarter as well and we will do our best to minimize earnings volatility to further heighten the earnings visibility. Let me begin the earnings presentation on KBFG for Q3 2014. First, the financial highlights. KBFG’s cumulative profit for Q3 2014 posted KRW 1,221.4 billion while the Q3 profit marks KRW 456.2 billion, up 16.5% year-on-year. The drivers for the Q3 profit increase are as follows. First of all as can be seen on the graph on the right, NIM continued expanding boosted by the lower funding cost resulting in higher interest income. Secondly, following the previous quarter, G&A and PCL were well controlled this quarter as well. Lastly, there was a one-off KRW 23.7 billion corporate tax refund related to the R&D. As of the end of September, the Group’s total assets including KRW 399 trillion rising 5.2% year-to-date. The Bank’s loan in won continued an optimum level of growth during Q3 rising 1.2% compared to the end of June and up 2.7% year-to-date. Next page please. The cumulative provision for credit losses up to Q3 came in at KRW 937 billion while the PCL for Q3 posted KRW 323.8 billion improving 2.6% year-on-year sustaining at stable level. The Group’s total asset to PCL rations improved from the previous quarter’s 0.45% to 0.43% enhancing by 2 basis points. If…

Operator

Operator

There was an earnings presentation by our acting chair. We will now begin the Q&A session. (Operator Instructions) First question from Hyundai Securities, Koo Kyung-hwe. Please go ahead. Koo Kyung-hwe – Hyundai Securities: [Interpreted] Good afternoon. My name is Koo Kyung-hwe from Hyundai Securities. Looking at the earnings results Acquisition process of LIG insurance, what’s the update? Number two, what is your dividend policy for this year? Any changes to be anticipated?

Woong-Won Yoon

Management

[Interpreted] Yes, let me address that question. Regarding the acquisition of LIG Insurance, we are proceeding at a very normal procedure from FSC, we have to obtain the approval to include LIG as our subsidiary and in order to get to that point, we have to submit diverse documents and we are in the process of submitting such paper work and we are addressing any additional follow-up requests on the paper work. So there is always a likelihood that it could be delayed slightly. But we would do our utmost to expedite the process, so that we could acquire the approval as soon as possible, so that we could reap good results. Now the second question has to do with your dividend, as you are well aware, KB’s common stock BIS ratio is relatively high compared to other peers and also the government is promoting pro-dividend policies at the moment. So we are fully aware of such market dynamics and also we realize that the shareholders are constantly seeking higher dividends. So, we will be working very hard to come up with some positive end-results ultimately. Thank you. Next question please.

Operator

Operator

From Tashan [ph] Securities Haney Kim [ph].

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

[Interpreted] Yes, hello, I am Haney Kim [ph] from Tashan [ph]. Securities. I am looking at – I cover capital companies. So, I have two questions related to KB Capital. In Q2, you got KRW 12.8 billion, but there is only KRW 7 billion. Is it because of certain credit cost or provision? What are some of the expenses? And after Q1, we’ve heard that there will be normalized level of profit going forward after the first quarter shock, but I think the higher level of provision, there is a concern, so, I am concerned whether in the fourth quarter there will also be more increases in the loan loss provisions. And also from a holding company’s perspective, what is the company’s policy to provide momentum to your capital company? I understand that you provide certain linkage operation support and we saw a lot of press coverage on this asset in the first half of the year, but I would like to understand little more about your unsecured loan related corporation.

Woong-Won Yoon

Management

[Interpreted] Yes, I will respond to the question, you’ve asked me about the figures from KB Capital in the first quarter, the net profit was low and was like last year because as we acquired the entity as you would know in the initial phase, there is relevant M&A and acquisition-related expenses that’s going to being cut. In Q3, the performance was relatively once again like last year and that is because, on our book there is a corporate finance related asset meaning the loans and we were in the process of cleaning up those loans and we have built up the provision to respond to that. And this year, this is an aspect that we are really going to focus on to enhance on the asset quality and we believe based on those assets we would see more stable profit coming in, in Q4 and we can expect better profits and income for next year. And your second question has to do with what is the holding company’s plan to support KB Capital. In terms of sales operation based on corporation or linkages, as you know, we are in the process of stabilizing these link-based business operations and the overall framework had undergone certain changes and our training and education that was provided on the sales people and there are some time that would be required to really facilitate such cross-selling or such cooperation. But in terms of the figures and the performance, we are seeing stable upward trend, so we have greater hope for the coming year. Other than that, at the holding company level, in terms of re-capitalization or solidifying our capital base, we do have certain measures and once those become more specific, we will communicate with the market.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

[Interpreted] I have one more follow-on question. After the deregulation on LTV in the non-bank industry, I would think that would there more volume that is being originated from the banking industry rather than the non-banks?

Woong-Won Yoon

Management

[Interpreted] Admittedly, there is a certain impact here. However, the extent or the size is not that significant. Fundamentally, with the higher LTV ratio, the limit on the loan size is increasing. So, with regards to the policy on real estate, there is new demand on the new loans. So those are two-fold impacts on the LTV deregulation.

Operator

Operator

Next question from UBS, Mr. Junho Lee please go ahead. Junho Lee – UBS: [Interpreted] Good afternoon. Thank you very much for good results. I have a question regarding your credit card business. What is your internal market share figure on the overall credit card volumes? I believe that it has gone up by 0.1% to 0.2% compared to the previous quarter. If that is the case, what you lost during the first half in terms of market share has not fully recovered yet. So, up to which market share point do you think that you could possibly regain your position?

Woong-Won Yoon

Management

[Interpreted] Yes, let me respond that question from the credit card business. You talked about the market share of the credit card business in your question. In the month of April, our market share was at the lowest point, at 13.9%, but after that we pursued very proactive sales momentum. So it’s steadily increasing. As of the end of September, although this is tentative figure, we believe that is about early or mid-14% range. So assuming that the current pace continues, we believe that we will continue to expand our share in Q4 as well in terms of customer numbers. So, at the end of the day, we believe that we could recover our market share. Thank you.