Shinhan Financial Q3 net beats fcast on margin rise

SEOUL, Nov 3 - Shinhan Financial Group <055550.KS>, South Korea's biggest financial services firm, on Tuesday reported a 52 percent jump in quarterly profit on rebounding interest margins and lower bad loan charges.

Shinhan <SHG.N>, in which France's BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA> held a 8 percent stake as of end-June, earned 491.3 billion won ($417.2 million) in the quarter ended September, against 323.3 billion won a year ago and 439.7 billion won in the second quarter.

The results topped an average forecast by analysts for 372.1 billion won, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Its net interest margin, a key profitability measure, increased by 28 basis points to 3.05 percent from the second quarter, as it replaced high-yielding deposit products maturing in the third quarter with lower-yielding products.

There are growing expectations for a rise in policy rates to lift lenders' interest margins further, as government stimulus packages come to an end and signs of asset price bubbles emerge.