Samsung Card's first-half net profit fell 7.5% from a year earlier. It was the only major specialized card company to post a decline in net profit. While it retained its top position in the industry by net profit, higher financing costs from rising funding rates and one-off expenses such as retirement benefit provisions weighed on earnings.
Samsung Card said on the 27th that its net profit for the first half of this year came to 310.5 billion won, down 7.5% from 335.6 billion won in the same period last year. Card spending over the same period rose 9.0% to 96.5324 trillion won from 88.526 trillion won a year earlier.
Among the top four card companies, only Samsung Card saw net profit decline. Shinhan Card's first-half net profit rose 2.8% from a year earlier to 253.4 billion won. KB Kookmin Card climbed 20.7% to 218.9 billion won, and Hyundai Card rose 11.9% to 185.2 billion won.
First-half operating expenses rose 9.9% to 1.671 trillion won from 1.521 trillion won a year earlier. Interest expenses of 330 billion won were incurred in the first half, reflecting an expansion in borrowing and higher funding rates. That was up 17.8% from 280 billion won in the same period last year. While rates rose, the bigger impact came from borrowings surpassing the 3 trillion won level this year. Borrowings stood at 3.411 trillion won at the end of June.
The burden of selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses also grew. The company spent 1.055 trillion won in the first half alone, up 7.8% from 979 billion won a year earlier. Samsung Card explained that "labor costs increased as retirement benefit provisions were reflected in advance." Labor costs indeed rose 16.6% from 214 billion won to 249 billion won over the same period. Marketing expenses also nearly doubled to 66 billion won from 34 billion won.
Soundness indicators improved. As of the end of June, the delinquency rate stood at 0.89%, down 0.05 percentage points from 0.94% at the end of last year. Loan loss provisions for the first half also fell to 814 billion won from 831 billion won a year earlier. A Samsung Card official said, "In the second half, we will strengthen asset soundness management and core business competitiveness, while continuing to invest in laying the groundwork for future growth in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), stablecoins and platforms."
