KB Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:KB) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call July 23, 2024 3:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Peter Kwon - Head, Investor Relations
Jae Kwan Kim - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President
Choi Cheal Soo - Chief Risk Management Officer
Nam Che Kang - Head of Global Division
Conference Call Participants
Yong-Jin Seol - SK Securities
Jaewoong Won - HSBC
Park Hye-jin - Daishin Securities
Do-Ha Kim - Hanwha Securities
Jongmin Shim - CLSA
Sin-Young Park - Goldman Sachs
Jun-Sup Jung - NH Securities
Jihyun Cho - JPMorgan
Peter Kwon
Greetings. I am Peter Kwon, the Head of IR at KBFG. We will now begin the 2024 First Half Business Results Presentation. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone for participating today.
We have here with us our group CFO and SVP, Jae Kwan Kim, as well as other members from our group management. We will first share the 2024 first half major financial highlights by CFO and SVP, Jae Kwan Kim, and then engage in a Q&A session.
I would like to invite our SVP to deliver 2024 first half earnings results.
Jae Kwan Kim
Good afternoon. I'm Jae Kwan Kim, CFO of KB Financial Group. Thank you for joining KBFG's 2024 first half earnings presentation.
Before going into the second quarter earnings results, I will first go over the company's first half shareholder return plan, which was resolved by today's BOD meeting. Please turn to Page 4 of the presentation deck.
Despite difficult operational backdrop, KBFG has been pushing forward with industry-leading shareholder return policy with a sustained effort on capital management to maintain industry's top-notch capital strength. As a result, CET1 ratio as of end of June was up 17 basis points Q-over-Q, expected to reach 13.59%, which is the highest capital ratio in the domestic market. As you are aware, last quarter, we were the first in the industry to start paying out equal amount of dividend every quarter on a total amount basis, enhancing visibility on annual payout and EPS while retaining flexibility in implementing share buyback and cancellation with a view towards improving shareholder returns.
As part of such effort, today, the BoD decided on quarterly cash payout of KRW791 per share and buyback and cancellation amounting to KRW400 billion. KRW791 EPS is a marginal increase following the impact from KRW320 billion share buyback announced during the first quarter, while additional share buyback and cancellation of KRW400 billion is yet again a testament of the commitment of the BoD and the management towards enhancing TSR, total shareholder return that is, and shareholder value. All in all, we will, in total, buyback and cancel KRW720 billion, which distinguishes our shareholder return policy underpinned by industry's top-notch capital strength and stable earnings capacity in spite of challenging operational headwind with growing macro uncertainty.