South Korea Financial Supervisory Service reports banks’ CET1 ratio at 13.59% at end-September 2025 with modest quarter-on-quarter declines across key measures

The South Korea Financial Supervisory Service published an update on the capital ratios of domestic banks and bank holding companies as of end-September 2025, showing small quarter-on-quarter declines in aggregate capital metrics while remaining above regulatory requirements. Domestic banks’ common equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio stood at 13.59%, down 0.03 percentage points from three months earlier; the Tier 1 ratio fell 0.09 percentage points to 14.84%, the total capital ratio declined 0.14 percentage points to 15.87%, and the leverage ratio edged down to 6.85%. By group, bank holding companies (eight companies) reported a CET1 ratio of 13.21%, a Tier 1 ratio of 14.84%, a total capital ratio of 15.76%, and a leverage ratio of 6.07%, while banks (20 banks) reported CET1 of 14.96%, Tier 1 of 15.61%, total capital of 17.04%, and leverage of 6.69%. The release referenced Basel regulatory minima of 8.0% CET1, 9.5% Tier 1 and 11.5% total capital (plus 1 percentage point for systemically important banks), and a 3.0% leverage ratio (not applicable to bank holding companies); the Financial Supervisory Service indicated it will continue monitoring capital ratios given domestic and external uncertainty, and noted the September figures are preliminary and subject to change.