Interest Business Done 'Too' Well... Last Year's Bank Net Profit 22.4 Trillion 'Record High' [3-Minute Brief]

[At a Glance]
① Bank net profit reached a record high of 22.4 trillion KRW last year
② Surging yen... Exchange rate nears 1,000 KRW
③ Overseas direct investment amounted to 63.95 billion dollars last year

MARKET INDEX : Year to date

○ US New York Stock Exchange's three major indices surged together
○ US Consumer Sentiment Index declined but
○ Investors focused on buying at low prices

Top3 NEWS

■ Record-high earnings... Banks posted 22.4 trillion KRW net profit last year

○ Financial Supervisory Service announced 2024 domestic banks' operating results
○ Historic maximum profit driven by decreased loan loss provisions and increased interest income
○ Interest income still accounts for over 90%, showing continued concentration

■ "Escape quickly" 1.7 trillion KRW withdrawn over 3 months... The fading era of low-yen deposits

○ Yen-tech investors realized gains as exchange rate rose
○ Yen deposit balance fell below 1 trillion KRW for the first time in 18 months
○ 180 billion yen withdrawn in about 40 days... lowest in 20 months

■ Last year US direct investment $22.08 billion... 40.1% increase compared to 5 years ago

○ Overseas direct investment amount $63.95 billion
○ Due to base effect, US investment decreased by 21.1%
○ Adjustment trend after reaching $29.5 billion in 2022

Graphic News: Homeplus, will it become the second Dongyang incident? National Assembly and Financial Supervisory Service target fraudulent transactions

○ Repeated comparisons to the 2013 Dongyang incident
○ Court receivership right after bond issuance, high debt ratio, investor damages, etc.
○ Financial Supervisory Service started inspection amid repeated suspicions... National Assembly also to question on the 18th

the Chart: Import prices fell for the first time in 5 months... Supporting consumer price stability

○ International oil prices declined... mining products like crude oil with large import share down
○ Stabilization of KRW-USD exchange rate also affected... down 0.8% compared to previous month
○ Attention on impact on consumer prices 1 to 3 months later

Today's Key Schedule

○ Domestic

KOSDAQ CK Solutions listing, final public offering price 15,000 KRW 12:00 M2 money supply (January)

○ Overseas 11:00 China Industrial Production (YoY) (February) 21:30 US Core Retail Sales (MoM) (February) 21:30 Canada Foreign Securities Purchases (January) 23:00 US Retail Inventories excluding Autos (January)

◇ Lunch & Commute Weather

○ Lowest temperature -2℃(▼6℃) ｜ Highest temperature: 6℃(▼12℃)
○ Precipitation probability morning 60%｜afternoon 20%
○ Fine dust morning good｜afternoon moderate

OK in 3 minutes, essential time-efficient economic news. Published daily at 8 AM.