[THE INVESTOR] KB Financial Group said on July 19 its net profit fell 4.4 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier due to a base effect.

Net profit stood at 946.7 billion won (US$835.50 million) for the April-June period, compared with a profit of 990 billion won a year earlier, KB Financial said in a regulatory filing.

For the same quarter last year, KB Financial’s net profit rose after earnings of its non-life insurance unit were included in one-time gains.

In the first six months of this year, KB Financial‘s net profit rose 2.9 percent on year to 1.9 trillion won.

KB Financial’s net interest income rose 10.8 percent on-year to 4.3 trillion won for the first-half of this year.

Its capital adequacy ratio stood at 15.14 percent at the end of June.

Flagship Kookmin Bank posted a net profit of 1.3 trillion won for the first six months of this year, up 11.9 percent from a year earlier.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)