Kakao Bank's first-quarter profit climbed to a record after a valuation gain from its investment in Indonesia's Superbank offset weaker operating income.

The digital lender said Wednesday that net profit rose 36.3 percent from a year earlier to 187.3 billion won ($128.5 million) in the January-March period. Operating profit fell 13.9 percent to 157.6 billion won, highlighting the role of non-operating gains in lifting its bottom line.

The biggest boost came from Superbank, the Indonesian digital lender that marked Kakao Bank's first overseas investment. Following Superbank's successful listing, Kakao Bank booked a 93.3 billion won valuation gain as non-operating income, helping push quarterly profit to a record despite the decline in operating profit.

Kakao Bank noted balanced growth across lending, fees and platform services, while also highlighting overseas momentum. Beyond Superbank, the online lender is pursuing a virtual bank project in Thailand and a partnership with Mongolia's MCS Group, including a stake investment in M Bank, as part of a broader push into Mongolia and Central Asia.

Operating revenue rose 4.4 percent year-over-year to 819.3 billion won. Interest income from loans increased 2.7 percent to 516.5 billion won, while noninterest income climbed 7.5 percent to 302.9 billion won, topping 300 billion won for the first time on a quarterly basis.

Noninterest income accounted for 37 percent of operating revenue, supported by fees, platform businesses and investment products.

Still, core profitability showed signs of pressure. The bank's quarterly net interest margin slipped to 2 percent from 2.09 percent a year earlier. Its delinquency rate edged up to 0.51 percent from 0.50 percent, though Kakao Bank said asset quality remained stable.

Customer traffic reached fresh highs. Kakao Bank added 570,000 customers in three months, bringing its user base to 27.3 million, while monthly active users reached 20.3 million. The bank said artificial intelligence services helped attract new users, with monthly active users for its conversational AI service jumping tenfold from four months earlier.

Larger user base helped lift deposits by more than 1 trillion won over the past three months to 69.4 trillion won, up 14.8 percent from a year earlier. Loans stood at 47.7 trillion won at the end of March, up 7.7 percent from a year earlier.

Kakao Bank added its shareholder return ratio rose to about 45 percent for 2025 earnings, and that it plans to raise the rate to 50 percent for this year's earnings.

By Choi Ji-won (jwc@heraldcorp.com)