SC First Bank's 2008 net up 10.1 pct

SEOUL, March 25 (Yonhap) -- SC First Bank Korea Ltd. said Wednesday its 2008 earnings rose 10.1 percent from a year earlier on growth in retail and corporate banking businesses and cost-cutting efforts.

Net profit came to 308.2 billion won (US$201.8 million) last year, compared with
280 billion won the previous year, the lender, controlled by U.K.-based Standard
Chartered Bank, said in a statement.
The bank said operating profit gained 11.6 percent on-year to 414.1 billion won,
but it did not provide revenue figures.
Its net interest margin, a key barometer of profitability, reached 2.6 percent at
the end of 2008, up from 2.26 percent a year earlier. The bank's total assets
came to 75.8 trillin won as of the end of December, up from 52 trillion won the
previous year.
The lender's capital adequacy ratio, a key gauge of financial health, came in at
11.71 percent at the end of last year, up from 10.71 percent in 2007, it added.
The bank's ratio calculated under Basel II reached 11.44 percent at the end of
December. Basel II, which calls for more rigorous risk and capital management
requirements, will be fully implemented in Korea from 2010.
Local banks are set to receive a capital infusion by tapping a bank
recapitalization fund in a bid to cushion the impact of the severe economic
downturn and expand lending to the real economy. But SC First Bank and Citibank
Korea Inc. decided not to use the fund.
Standard Chartered Bank acquired Korea First Bank in April 2005 for 3.4 trillion
won and renamed it SC First Bank in September.