Seoul:<Text>

Woori Financial Group announced a decrease in its first-quarter net profit, attributed to rising costs. The financial group's net profit for the January-March period amounted to 603 billion won (US$407 million), marking a 2.1 percent decline compared to the same period last year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the reported earnings fell short of market expectations. Analysts, as surveyed by Yonhap Infomax, had estimated the net profit to be 736.2 billion won. The operating profit for the quarter was 808.2 billion won, representing a 7 percent decrease from the previous year, although revenue saw a significant increase of 58.2 percent, reaching 15.28 trillion won.

Interest income for the quarter rose by 2.3 percent year-on-year to 2.3 trillion won. Additionally, non-interest income experienced a substantial surge of 26.7 percent year-on-year, totaling 455 billion won in the January-March period.

The group's flagship, Woori Bank , reported a net profit of 531 billion won for the first quarter, down from 634 billion won in the same period the previous year.