KOREAN BANK CREDIT CARD UNITS IMPROVING FAST.

AsiaPulse News, October, 2004

SEOUL, Oct 7 Asia Pulse - South Korea's major commercial banks are rapidly turning around their credit card divisions through massive efforts to cut bad assets, banking sources said Thursday.

The credit card unit of Woori Bank, the nation's second largest lender, had a net profit of 12 billion won (US$10.44 million) in September, the fifth consecutive month of black.

It expects to post a net income of 30 billion to 40 billion won in 2004 following a loss of 1.32 trillion won last year. In the first nine months of the year, the unit reaped a net income of about 13 billion won.

Chohung Bank, the fourth largest lender, also expects to slash the losses of its card business from 757 billion won last year to as low as 50 billion won this year.

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