Earnings by South Korea's bank holding companies more than doubled in the first half of the year from a year earlier, largely due to a fall in loan-loss reserves and gains from asset sales and securities holdings, the financial watchdog said Monday.
The combined net profit of 11 local bank holding firms on a consolidated basis stood at 4.95 trillion won (US$4.75 billion) in the January-June period, up 2.59 trillion won from the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).