[Click eStock] "KakaoBank Seeks Growth Through Personal Business Loans"

On the 9th, Daishin Securities forecasted that KakaoBank will seek growth opportunities through loans to individual business owners. The investment opinion 'Buy' and the target stock price of 30,000 won were maintained.

KakaoBank has shown rapid growth due to the ability to receive various services such as deposits and loans non-face-to-face. In terms of revenue, household loans contributed significantly. However, due to government regulations on household loans, the growth rate of won-denominated loans slowed from 39% in 2023 to 12% in 2024. Therefore, it is currently focusing on loans to individual business owners. At present, it only handles guarantee-backed loans and unsecured loans under 100 million won, but secured loans and unsecured loans exceeding 100 million won are expected to be launched as early as the fourth quarter of this year. As of the end of September last year, the outstanding balance of domestic individual business owner loans was 703 trillion won, representing a relatively large market.

Analyst Park Hyejin stated, "KakaoBank plans to grow its expanded individual business owner loan lineup to account for 18% of total loans by 2030, starting from the fourth quarter of this year," and analyzed, "The size of KakaoBank's individual business owner loans will increase from the current 2 trillion won to 15.5 trillion won by 2030." However, managing delinquency rates remains a challenge. The most recent indicator, as of the end of September last year, shows that the delinquency rate for individual business owner loans among the three internet banks was 1.85%, which is considerably higher than the 0.47% of commercial banks. KakaoBank recorded the lowest rate among the three at 1.21%.

It is also noteworthy that non-interest income, including platform and asset management revenue, is growing recently. In platform fee income, the loan comparison service is performing well. Secured loans will be added to this service in the second quarter. Currently, the loan comparison service market is almost evenly divided between Naver Pay and KakaoBank. He analyzed, "Since KakaoBank has more partners, achieving the company's target of becoming the number one market share holder will not be difficult." Profits related to securities are also increasing as the scale of asset management grows. Daishin Securities expects KakaoBank's securities-related profit in the first quarter of this year to reach 61.1 billion won, a 19.6% increase compared to the same period last year, marking the highest level.