[Special Stock] KB Financial, Weak 5% Decline Amid Disappointing Shareholder Return Evaluation

KB Financial is showing weakness due to shareholder return results that fell short of market expectations.

As of 9:15 a.m. on the 6th, KB Financial is trading at 85,900 won, down 5,100 won (5.6%) from the previous day.

The shareholder return announcement made the previous day is interpreted as a factor contributing to the stock price decline, as it was somewhat disappointing. KB Financial stated that out of the Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio of 13.51% at the end of 2024, it plans to use 1.76 trillion won of capital exceeding 13% as the source for this year's total annual cash dividends and share repurchase and cancellation. To this end, the board of directors resolved to repurchase and cancel shares worth a total of 520 billion won, considering the total annual cash dividends.

Jung Joon-seop, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, analyzed, "There are somewhat disappointing aspects in KB Financial's shareholder return results this time. Although the environment was unfavorable, such as the sharp rise in the won-dollar exchange rate in the fourth quarter, efforts to manage risk-weighted assets (RWA) were insufficient compared to competitors who announced their earnings on the 4th, and it confirmed that there is structurally low visibility in predicting shareholder returns." He added, "The announced share repurchase amount of 520 billion won corresponds to about 0.15% of RWA, and if the CET1 ratio moves by just 5 basis points (1bp = 0.01 percentage points), the share repurchase scale could fluctuate by about 150 to 200 billion won. It is practically impossible for the market to predict the future CET1 ratio to two decimal places, and thus the uncertainty in estimating the share repurchase scale is also significant."