JB’s Cambodian affiliate rakes in record profit

JB Financial Group’s Cambodian bank affiliate, Phnom Penh Commercial Bank (PPC Bank), posted a new all-time high of 20.7 billion won ($17.4 million) in net profit last year, the company announced Tuesday.

The Cambodian bank’s net profit rose by 40.5 percent last year, up from 14.7 billion won. Its total assets reached 1.07 trillion won, a 21.8 percent on-year jump. It is the first bank to break the 1 trillion won feat among Korean banks operating in the Southeast Asian country, the company said.

Total loans also increased from 604 billion won last year to 749.3 billion won this year, a 24.1 percent rise. The interest margin grew by 31.4 percent to 40.6 billion won in 2019.

“Growth has slowed down due to capital regulation and high competition in the commercial bank industry,” PPC Bank president Shin Chang-moo said. “It is significant that we managed to pull off a strong profit by expanding our customer network and fortifying our digital service.”

The bank said it lowered cost by delivering local capital instead of bringing them from Korea.

“Unlike other Korean banks, PPC Bank derived 100 percent of its capital from the local market. Bringing low-interest capital from Korea and then lending it with high interest would lead to high interest margins, but it would eventually face limits from regulations on foreign exchange,” the bank said. “PPC Bank lowered cost by securing low interest saving instead of high interest fixed deposit.”

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]