
SEOUL -- The three leading banking groups in South Korea posted better-than-expected earnings in the third quarter, as interest rates look set to be hiked as early as November.
Shinhan Financial Group said Monday that net profit attributable to shareholders reached 817.3 billion won ($726.7 million) in the July-September period, up 15.4% from a year ago. That helped its accumulated net profit for the first nine months to spike 25.1% to 2.7 trillion won from the previous year, putting it on track to earn more than 3 trillion won this year.