IBK logs 5.2% on-quarter rise in net profit

South Korea's state-run Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) said Friday that its third-quarter earnings rose 5.2 percent from three months earlier on higher interest income. Net income amounted to 190.5 billion won (US$179.6 million) in the July-September period, compared with 181.1 billion won the previous year, the bank said in a regulatory filing. The bank said that its interest income rose in tandem with its lending growth, and its non-interest income also increased amid a stock market rally. But IBK's net profit margin (NIM), a gauge of profitability, declined last quarter amid a long streak of low rates. The bank's NIM reached 1.9 percent last quarter, down from 1.92 percent in the second quarter. IBK, which mainly caters to small and medium enterprises, said its loans to smaller firms amounted to 108.8 trillion won as of end-September, up 4.7 percent from the end of last year.