Home > Business > Finance

BOK's 2025 net income doubles on year over higher FX gains

Published: 27 Mar. 2026, 16:18

An employee at Hana Bank's counterfeit response center in central Seoul examines dollars bills. [YONHAP]

The central bank said on Friday that its 2025 net income doubled from a year ago, driven largely by increased gains from foreign currency assets.

According to the 2025 annual report from the Bank of Korea (BOK), its net income reached 15.33 trillion won ($10.19 billion), increasing around twofold from 7.51 trillion won a year earlier.

The figure marked a new record, far exceeding the previous high of 7.86 trillion won posted in 2021.

The central bank attributed the sharp increase to larger gains from foreign currency assets stemming from a weaker Korean currency and higher securities prices.

“Foreign exchange trading gains increased during year-end efforts to stabilize the foreign exchange market,” a BOK official said.

The won weakened sharply against the dollar late last year amid supply-demand imbalances and uncertainties stemming from the aggressive tariff policies of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.

Total revenue reached 33.52 trillion won in 2025, up 7 trillion won from a year earlier, while total expenses fell by 3.4 trillion won to 12.75 trillion won.

Of the net income, 70 percent, or 10.7 trillion won, was transferred to government revenue. The remainder was allocated to legal revenues.

As of the end of December 2025, the BOK's total assets stood at 631 trillion won, up 35.48 trillion won from a year earlier, driven by increases in deposits and repurchase agreements.

Of the foreign currency assets, 63.9 percent were held in directly managed assets, 25.5 percent in externally managed assets entrusted to domestic and global asset managers and 10.6 percent in cash and cash equivalents.

By currency, the dollar accounted for 69.5 percent of total holdings, down 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier.

Liabilities increased by 25.63 trillion won to 592.78 trillion won, mainly due to higher currency issuance and deposit balances, the BOK said.

Yonhap