[비즈한국] KB Financial105560 Group and Shinhan Financial Group announced their 2025 financial results on the 5th. The two companies have long competed for the top position among financial holding companies. Based on net profit, Shinhan Financial Group led KB Financial Group in 2018–2019, but lagged behind in 2020–2021. Although Shinhan Financial Group reclaimed the top spot in net profit in 2022, KB Financial Group has held the lead every year since 2023. 2025 was another victory for KB Financial Group. The performance of non-banking sectors is cited as the key factor that determined success or failure.
According to the 2025 performance reports, KB Financial Group recorded a net profit of KRW 5.8505 trillion, while Shinhan Financial Group recorded KRW 4.9716 trillion. KB Financial Group has maintained its status as the number one financial holding company in net profit for three consecutive years since 2023. The financial industry is focusing on whether KB Financial Group's dominance will continue for the long term or if Shinhan Financial Group will succeed in a reversal in 2026.
The difference in performance between their core subsidiaries, Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Bank, was not significant. Kookmin Bank's net profit last year was KRW 3.862 trillion, and Shinhan Bank's was KRW 3.7748 trillion, a difference of KRW 87.2 billion. This is only about 10% of the KRW 878.9 billion gap in net profit between the two entire financial groups.
It is assessed that the widening gap between KB Financial Group and Shinhan Financial Group was influenced by the non-banking sectors. The non-banking contribution ratios for KB Financial Group and Shinhan Financial Group last year were 37% and 29%, respectively. Shinhan Financial Group's non-banking contribution reached 42% in 2021 but has steadily declined, hitting 24% in 2024. Although it rose to 29% last year, it is still a disappointing figure compared to the early 2020s.
Excluding Shinhan Bank, the subsidiary that generated the highest net profit for Shinhan Financial Group is Shinhan Life. However, Shinhan Life's net profit fell by 3.92%, from KRW 528.4 billion in 2024 to KRW 507.7 billion in 2025. Shinhan Card, the next largest subsidiary, saw its net profit decrease by 16.68%, from KRW 572.1 billion in 2024 to KRW 476.7 billion in 2025. A Shinhan Card representative stated, "Costs rose due to the expansion of the member base and an increase in credit sales volume," adding, "This is the result of increased interest expenses due to rising procurement rates and expenses incurred from voluntary retirement programs."
Furthermore, Shinhan Capital's net profit fell by 7.36%, from KRW 116.9 billion to KRW 108.3 billion. Fortunately, strong performance by Shinhan Securities helped offset the sluggish results of other non-banking subsidiaries. Shinhan Securities' net profit increased by 112.95%, from KRW 179.2 billion to KRW 381.6 billion. However, it is noted that this still falls short compared to the early 2020s, which was the peak for Shinhan Securities. Shinhan Securities previously recorded a net profit of KRW 412.3 billion in 2022.
KB Financial's non-banking subsidiaries are larger in scale than Shinhan Financial's, which contributes to their higher net profits. However, compared to 2024, it is difficult to say that the performance of KB's non-banking subsidiaries was particularly strong. KB Insurance's net profit dropped 7.30% from KRW 839.5 billion in 2024 to KRW 778.2 billion in 2025, and KB Kookmin Card's net profit decreased 18.00% from KRW 402.7 billion to KRW 330.2 billion during the same period. KB Life Insurance's net profit also fell 9.43% from KRW 269.4 billion to KRW 244 billion. Only KB Securities saw its net profit rise 13.09% from KRW 585.7 billion to KRW 673.9 billion, and KB Capital's net profit increased 5.95% from KRW 222 billion to KRW 235.2 billion.
Ultimately, both KB and Shinhan face the homework of strengthening their non-banking sectors. Both groups mentioned the importance of non-banking operations during recent conference calls but did not reveal specific plans. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are considered the fastest way to strengthen these areas. Currently, firms such as ABL Life Insurance, KDB Life Insurance, Lotte Insurance, and A-Capital are being mentioned as potential M&A targets. However, neither KB nor Shinhan has shown any significant movement toward M&A.
If M&A does not occur, they must improve their performance internally. For this year, earnings growth is expected for both KB Securities and Shinhan Securities. With the recent rise in the KOSPI, the outlook for securities firms is not bad. Ahn Young-jun, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities039490, stated, "Securities firms' performance is highly sensitive to stock market trading volume." KB Securities and Shinhan Securities were among the few non-banking subsidiaries that succeeded in improving their performance last year.
On the other hand, improving the performance of credit card companies remains a task. Their rival, Hyundai Card, saw its net profit increase by 10.71% from KRW 316.4 billion in 2024 to KRW 350.3 billion in 2025. Although Samsung Card029780 saw a decline in net profit, the rate of decline was only 2.81%. This contrasts with the 10% range decline seen by KB Kookmin Card and Shinhan Card. In particular, Shinhan Card also suffered a decline in public trust due to a personal information leak that occurred last year (Related article: Shinhan Card personal information leak scandal... Will it affect the evaluation of CEO Park Chang-hoon?).
Shinhan Financial Group's Chairman Recommendation Committee selected Chairman Jin Ok-dong as the candidate for the next chairman last December. Essentially, his second term is confirmed. Coincidentally, since Chairman Jin took office in 2023, Shinhan Financial Group has not been able to surpass KB Financial Group in net profit.
Jang Jung-hoon, Deputy President of Shinhan Financial Group, announced the results on the 5th, stating, "Based on solid financial fundamentals, we will continue to pursue predictable shareholder return policies while emphasizing our role as a financial group that grows sustainably alongside the real economy through productive finance."