K Bank is an internet-only bank run solely through a mobile app with no branches. It makes money from the net interest margin - the gap between deposit and loan rates - plus non-interest income from card and payment fees and from real-name accounts tied to cryptocurrency exchanges, and with little branch and staffing cost, profit builds quickly as it scales. In the first quarter of 2026 operating profit of ₩32.4 billion and net profit of ₩33.2 billion roughly doubled from a year earlier, breaking out of last year's slump, and the preliminary figures matched the confirmed quarterly-report figures, confirming reliability. What stands out lately is that the forward P/E reflecting recovering earnings is below peer Kakao Bank (20.3x) and the P/B of 1.07x is not a heavy burden, so the stock is strong if the earnings recovery continues and its ROE (5.2%) rises to peer levels, but weak if interest margins are squeezed by falling rates or rising delinquencies.
At-a-glance assessment financial health · growth · profitability · valuation
- For financial companies, debt and interest costs are large by the nature of the business, so the debt ratio and interest coverage cannot be read on the same yardstick as an ordinary company.
- ROE is 5.2% (total-net basis). It is above the sector average.
- The P/E sits above the sector median, reflecting elevated expectations.
Ownership & governance As of 2025-12-31
Largest shareholder BC Card 33.72% (corporate)
Controlling bloc incl. related parties 33.72%
With the controlling bloc holding 34%, the ownership structure is stable.
🔎 In-depth analysis
- K Bank is an internet-only bank run solely through a mobile app with no branches.
- Its earnings structure is the same as an ordinary bank's.
- It pays low interest on deposits customers place with it (parking accounts, time deposits, and the like) and lends that money out as unsecured loans, jeonse loans, and apartment-backed loans, with the gap between the loan interest it receives and the deposit interest it pays (the net interest margin) as its core revenue.
- Added to this is non-interest income from opening accounts with partner financial firms, card and payment fees, and deposits and withdrawals on real-name accounts linked to cryptocurrency exchanges.
- So for this company it is closer to the real business to view it as "interest income plus fee income" rather than as "revenue." A strength that sets it apart from traditional banks is that, with little branch and staffing cost, costs barely rise even as customers and loans grow, so profit builds quickly as it scales.
- The latest close is ₩5,300 and the market cap is ₩2.2 trillion.
- The price sits below its 20-day line (₩6,062) and below its 60-day line (₩5,966).
- Trading below both the short- and medium-term moving averages, the trend looks subdued.
- The RSI (an auxiliary gauge that weighs upward against downward momentum over the past 14 days on a 0-100 scale) is 36.4, a neutral level.
- The one-month change is -12.1%, the three-month change is -10.9%, and the position versus the 52-week high is -36.4%.
- Relative strength against the KOSPI is 6 (1-99, computed from returns versus the index over the past year with recent performance weighted more heavily; higher means stronger than the market).
- That places it in roughly the top 95% of all stocks by strength.
- Over the past three months it lagged the index by 31.4%.
- Chart reading is best done alongside trading volume and disclosure dates.
- On a confirmed full-year basis (last year, FY2025), the P/E (how many times one year's net profit the price represents) is 19.09x and the P/B (how many times the company's net assets the price represents) is 0.99x.
- But this P/E is calculated on "last year, when earnings briefly dipped," so it creates an illusion of looking higher than the company's current earnings power.
- Because first-quarter earnings this year doubled from a year earlier, the forward P/E reflecting this year's expected earnings comes down.
- That forward P/E is below the 20.3x P/E of fellow internet bank Kakao Bank, showing this is a phase of buying a recovering company cheaper than its peer.
- In other words, for a stock whose earnings are just turning up, the true picture is closer to the forward P/E on this year's earnings than to the P/E built from last year's figures.
- The ROE (how much is earned in a year on equity, the ratio of profit to equity) is 5.2%, above the peer average but below Kakao Bank's (7.1%), so there is still room to lift capital efficiency.
- The debt ratio (debt against equity) comes out very high at 1,467%, but for a bank, customer deposits are booked as "liabilities" in accounting terms, so it cannot be judged risky by the same yardstick as a manufacturer.
- The operating-margin item shows "unconfirmable" also because, for banks, total revenue (interest income) is not separately tallied, a characteristic of the sector.
- On an annual basis, operating profit went ₩16.5 billion in 2023, ₩133.0 billion in 2024, and ₩117.1 billion in 2025 - after the 2024 surge it slipped 11.9% last year.
- Net profit likewise went ₩12.8 billion, ₩128.1 billion, and ₩112.6 billion over the same span, down 12.1% last year.
- On these annual figures alone growth appears to have taken a breather, but the picture clearly changes at the quarterly level.
- First-quarter 2026 operating profit was ₩32.4 billion, up 108.0% from a year earlier, and net profit was ₩33.2 billion, up 106.8%, with earnings doubling.
- This signals that last year's confirmed results were the bottom of the slump and that a recovery phase has begun this year.
- If this recovery continues throughout the year, the valuation that looked depressed on last year's earnings normalizes quickly.
- The drivers of recovery are wider interest income from a larger loan balance and the operating leverage of a branchless model in which costs barely rise even as customers grow.
- The forward P/E reflecting this year's expected earnings is a figure that quantitatively captures this recovery, pointing to the first quarter's doubling being not a temporary rebound but a restoration of earnings power.
- Against Kakao Bank's 20.3x P/E, it amounts to buying a faster-recovering company more cheaply.
- Recent disclosures center on the earnings trend and company communication.
- A fair disclosure of preliminary results on 2026-04-30 announced the strong first-quarter figures early, and the quarterly report (2026.03) on 2026-05-15 confirmed operating profit of ₩32.4 billion and net profit of ₩33.2 billion, matching the preliminary figures and confirming reliability.
- Investor-briefing (IR) notices held several times around the same period are venues where the company explains results and business status directly, showing that communication with investors has continued steadily.
- The March business report (2025.12) is the source document for last year's annual confirmed results, and the May large-business-group status disclosure is a regular filing covering the governance status as a KT affiliate.
- The strengths are clear.
- First-quarter earnings doubled from a year earlier, breaking out of last year's slump, and thanks to the branchless model, profit builds quickly relative to cost as customers and loans grow.
- The P/E built from last year's figures looks high, but the forward P/E reflecting this year's recovering earnings is below peer Kakao Bank (20.3x), so this is a position of buying a turning-up company cheaper than its peer.
- The P/B, at 1.07x, is also not a heavy burden relative to net assets.
- Points to watch together are that the ROE of 5.2% is below Kakao Bank's 7.1%, so capital efficiency is still catching up, and the sector trait that bank earnings are sensitive to rates, delinquency rates, and lending regulation.
- In sum, the stock is strong when the first-quarter earnings recovery continues throughout the year and the ROE rises to peer levels, and weak when interest margins are squeezed by falling rates or rising delinquencies.
- The current price captures that recovery at a valuation below peers.
🔎 Valuation vs peers Fairly valued
Kakao Bank, the fellow internet-only bank whose business structure (contactless net interest margin plus fees) is most similar, is taken as the direct peer. Both are branchless mobile banks, so the comparison is meaningful.
| Peer | P/E | P/B | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|
| KakaoBank | 21.46x | 1.53x | 7.12% |
(a) Against the true peer, Kakao Bank, both K Bank's P/E and P/B are lower, so it is hard to call it expensive. (b) On a net-asset (P/B) basis it is at a discount, but that is largely a reasonable discount reflecting a still-low ROE. (c) Last year's trailing P/E of 20.8x sits just before an earnings inflection (a decline last year turning into a +108% rebound in the first quarter this year), so it tends to be overstated, and on a forward basis gauged from DART quarterly-results ratios the burden eases. Taken together, weighing the position versus the peer and the potential for earnings recovery, the assessment is "Fairly valued" - a range in which it is hard to say categorically that it is cheap or expensive.
Earnings outlook company-stated · verified
| Type | Period | Revenue | Operating profit | Net profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Next quarter | Q2 2026 | — | approx. ₩53.6 billion | approx. ₩54.1 billion |
Price history Close · MA20 · MA60
The latest close is ₩5,300 and the market capitalization is ₩2.2 trillion. The price sits below its 20-day moving average (₩6,062) and below its 60-day moving average (₩5,966). It is under both its short- and medium-term moving averages, so the trend looks subdued. The RSI (a supplementary indicator that gauges the strength of gains versus losses over the past 14 days on a 0-100 scale) is 36.4, a neutral level. The one-month change is -12.1%, the three-month change is -10.9%, and the position relative to the 52-week high is -36.4%. Relative strength versus the KOSPI is 6 (on a 1-99 scale, converted from returns against the index over the past year with more weight on recent performance; higher means stronger than the market). It is stronger than roughly 5% of all stocks. Over the past three months it lagged the index by 31.4%. Chart interpretation is best done alongside trading volume and the dates on which disclosures occur.
Relative performance stock vs index · start = 100
Excess return vs index · 3M -31.38% / 12M -51.28%
Key metrics vs whole-market median
Valuation
The P/E of 19.09x is above the whole-market median (13.81x). The P/B of 0.99x is in line with the whole-market median (1.15x). That said, this P/E is based on last year's (trailing) results. With recent quarterly earnings up sharply, the trailing P/E can look higher than it really is, so a precise read is best done on this year's expected (forward) earnings.
Profitability & financials
Return on equity (ROE) is 5.2%, in line with the whole-market average (5.0%). The debt ratio is 1467.2%, but for financial firms deposits and insurance liabilities count as debt, so it cannot be read on the same yardstick as an ordinary company.
Growth FY2025 · annual report (separate)
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | — | — | — | — |
| Operating profit | $10.9M | $88.1M | $77.6M | -11.94% ↓ slower |
| Net profit | $8.5M | $84.9M | $74.6M | -12.06% ↓ slower |
| 5-year | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating profit | — | — | $10.9M | $88.1M | $77.6M |
| Net profit | — | — | $8.5M | $84.9M | $74.6M |
Operating profit fell 11.9% year over year. The decline widened.
Latest quarterly results
No recent quarterly results confirmed from DART.
Technical indicators
What stands out
- —
Points to watch
- The price is high versus peers, so expectations already appear priced in.
Recent news & events searched · sourced
- 2026-05-15EarningsQuarterly report (2026.03) filed - Q1 operating profit of ₩32.4 billion and net profit of ₩33.2 billion confirmedShort term: earnings roughly double year-on-year levels are officially confirmed, a recovery signal from last year's slump. Medium term: whether this recovery carries into the second quarter and beyond is the key to the annual trend. Source
- 2026-04-30EarningsPreliminary results (fair disclosure) - Q1 preliminary figures released earlyShort term: a disclosure that flagged strong results ahead of the confirmed quarterly report, giving earnings visibility. Medium term: the preliminary and confirmed figures match (operating profit ₩32.4 billion), confirming reliability. Source
- 2026-04-30IRNotice of investor briefing (IR) - the company explains results and business status directlyShort term: an official communication channel conveying business progress to investors. Medium term: with no separate official guidance figures disclosed, the IR is the main route for confirming business direction. Source
- 2026-03-23FilingBusiness report (2025.12) filed - last year's annual operating profit of ₩117.1 billion and net profit of ₩112.6 billion confirmedShort term: confirms that last year's profit fell about 12% year on year, the backdrop to the trailing P/E looking high. Medium term: whether last year's results were the bottom of the slump is the reference point for this year's assessment. Source
Figure cross-check computed ↔ external
| Metric | Computed | External | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latest quarterly operating profit (Q1 2026) | ₩32.4 billion(+108.0% YoY) | ₩32.4 billion | Confirmed | link |
| Last year's annual operating profit (FY2025) | ₩117.1 billion(-11.9% YoY) | ₩117.1 billion | Confirmed | link |
| Latest close (2026-06-09) | ₩5,300 | — | Unverified | link |
| This year's seasonality-approximated operating profit (FY2026) | approx. ₩124.5 billion | — | Unverified | link |
Recent filings
- 2026-06-01Disclosure
- 2026-05-29Large-business-group status disclosure
- 2026-05-15PeriodicQuarterly report
- 2026-04-30Disclosure
- 2026-04-30Disclosure
- 2026-04-30EarningsFair-disclosure notice
- 2026-04-15Disclosure
- 2026-04-15EarningsEarnings disclosure
- 2026-04-09Disclosure
- 2026-03-31Disclosure
- 2026-03-31Shareholders' meeting notice
- 2026-03-23PeriodicAnnual business report
📖 Plain-language glossary — expand if you are new to this
- P/E
- How many times a year's net profit the price is worth (lower is cheaper relative to earnings). The P/E here is on trailing (last full-year) results; for companies whose earnings swing fast (memory chips and other cyclicals/high-growth), a forward P/E on this year's expected earnings is more accurate.
- P/B
- Price relative to net assets (equity). Around 1x means it trades near book value; below 1x means below book.
- P/S
- Price relative to a year's revenue — useful for growth companies with thin earnings.
- Net debt / EV
- Net debt = interest-bearing debt − cash. Negative means more cash than debt (net cash). EV (enterprise value) = market cap + net debt, closer to what it would cost to buy the whole business.
- EV/EBIT · EV/EBITDA · EV/Sales
- Enterprise value against operating profit (EBIT), EBITDA, or revenue. Unlike P/E these reflect debt and cash; lower is cheaper relative to earnings power or sales.
- FCF / FCF yield
- Free cash flow = operating cash − capex, the cash actually left over. FCF yield = FCF ÷ market cap; higher means more cash generated per unit of market value.
- Intrinsic value (DCF)
- Future free cash flow (or, for some capex-heavy but profitable names, forecast earnings) discounted to today to estimate per-share value. Because it shifts a lot with the discount-rate and growth assumptions, it is shown as a bear/base/bull range, and the basis and assumptions are disclosed in one line beneath it.
- ROE
- How much profit the company earns in a year on its equity (%). Higher means better returns on capital.
- EPS / BPS
- Earnings per share / net assets (book value) per share.
- Operating / net margin
- Profit left from the core business / final profit after tax and interest, per unit of revenue.
- Debt ratio
- Debt relative to equity (%). Higher means more reliance on borrowing (norms vary by sector).
- Current ratio
- Assets convertible to cash within a year against debt due within a year. Above 100% leaves some short-term headroom.
- Interest coverage
- How many times operating profit covers the interest owed. Below 1x means operating profit alone struggles to cover interest.
- Dividend yield / payout ratio
- The year's dividend as a % of today's price / the share of earnings paid out as dividends.
- Revenue CAGR
- Multi-year growth expressed as a single yearly average (compound annual growth rate).
- RSI (short-term signal)
- Whether recent price action is overheated or beaten down. Above 70 is overbought, below 30 oversold.
- MA20 / MA60 (moving averages)
- The 20- and 60-day average price. Price above them signals a firmer short-term trend.
- vs 52-week high
- How far below the past year's peak the price sits now (%).
All figures are for reference only; how they read varies by sector and over time.
Sources: Korea FSC market-price API (data.go.kr), OpenDART, KRX/KIND — public data only.
Bong Stocks presents public-data-based information for reference only. It is not investment advice and contains no target prices, ratings, or buy/sell recommendations. Verify independently before making any decision.