SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- Shinhan Financial Group Co., South Korea's No. 3 banking organization, said Thursday that its fourth-quarter earnings fell 13 percent on-year due to increased retirement charges.

   Net income reached 506.7 billion won (US$453.5 million) in the October-December period, compared with 585.4 billion won a year ago, the group said in a regulatory filing. Compared with three months earlier, net profit fell 28 percent.
Revenue rose 16 percent from one year ago to 6.22 trillion won in the October-December period and operating profit also gained 16 percent on-year to 635.6 billion won.

   For the full year of 2011, Shinhan Financial earned 3.1 trillion won, up 16 percent from 2010.

   Shinhan Financial posted lower earnings for the fourth quarter because the group set aside increased allowances for retirement and conducted an early retirement program at the end of last year for its banking unit.

   Shares of the group fell 0.21 percent to 46,550 won on the Seoul bourse. The fourth-quarter results were announced after the market closed.

   Shinhan Bank, the group's flagship banking unit, registered a net profit of 227.8 billion won in the final quarter of 2011, up 2.9 percent from one year ago.

   Its annual net income rose 26.8 percent from 2010 to 2.12 trillion won on proceeds from sales of a stake in Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co.

   The lender's net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, stood at 2.1 percent at the end of 2011, down from 2.24 percent in the preceding quarter.

   The group's total assets reached 332.2 trillion won as of December, up 4.2 percent from one year ago.

   ylee@yna.co.kr
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