KB Financial Group reported near-record quarterly earnings and said it will cancel all treasury shares it currently holds, signaling a push to pair strong results with bigger shareholder returns.
In a regulatory filing on Thursday, KB Financial said its 2026 first-quarter net profit totaled 1.8924 trillion won, up 11.5% from a year earlier and the highest level on record.
Results were supported by solid net interest income of 3.3348 trillion won and a sharp rise in net fee income, which grew 45.5% to 1.3593 trillion won. The nonbanking businesses accounted for 43% of group earnings, reflecting broad-based growth across affiliates.
As of the end of March, the group’s nonperforming loan ratio stood at 0.73%. Its common equity Tier 1 ratio was 13.63%, and its BIS capital ratio was 15.75%, the company said.
By unit, KB Kookmin Bank posted first-quarter net profit of 1.1010 trillion won, up 7.3% from a year earlier. KB Financial cited the fading impact of last year’s one-off, large provisioning, stable management of interest income and higher wealth-management fee income. The bank’s net interest margin rose 2 basis points to 1.77%.
KB Securities reported net profit of 347.8 billion won, up 93.3%, helped by higher brokerage commissions and other wealth-management revenue as stock trading value increased amid a more active capital market. KB Insurance posted 200.7 billion won, KB Kookmin Card 107.5 billion won, and KB Life 79.8 billion won in net profit.
KB Financial also announced it will cancel all 14.26 million treasury shares it holds, about 3.8% of shares outstanding, following a recent Commercial Act revision tied to mandatory treasury-share cancellations. The company said it is the industry’s largest single cancellation by value.
Although the mandatory cancellation comes with a 1 1/2-year grace period, KB Financial said it decided to proceed immediately after the legal revision to maximize shareholder value and support government policy.
The board also approved a quarterly cash dividend of 1,143 won per share and an additional 600 billion won share buyback and cancellation plan.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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