KOREA EXCHANGE BANK'S Q1 PROFIT FALLS 8 PCT ON TAX PAYMENT.

SEOUL, May 3 Asia Pulse - Korea Exchange Bank (KSE:004940), a South Korean lender controlled by U.S.-based private fund Lone Star Funds, said Wednesday its net income for the first quarter fell 8 per cent from a year ago due to a payment of corporate income tax.

First-quarter net profit was 299.8 billion won (US$318 million), compared with 325.8 billion won a year earlier, Korea Exchange Bank said in a statement.

The lender attributed the decline in net profit to the payment of 115.5 billion won in corporate income tax.

During the same period, however, operating profit jumped 61.9 per cent from a year earlier to 374.8 billion won, the bank said. Sales rose 24.9 per cent to 1.98 trillion won.

In late March, Kookmin Bank (KSE:060000), the nation's top lender, ...