Credit card companies in South Korea saw their combined net profit rise from a year earlier in the first six months of the year, helped by an increase in sales, data showed Tuesday. The combined net profit of eight credit card firms came to 1.5 trillion won (US$1.1 billion) in the January-June period, up 5.8 percent from the same period last year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. Their combined revenue increased 786 billion won to a little over 14 trillion won over the cited period. The delinquency rate on the aggregate assets stood at 1.69 percent at end-June, up 0.06 percentage point from six months earlier, according to the financial regulator. The ratio of loans classified as substandard or below came to 1.17 percent as of end-June, up 0.03 percent from 1.14 percent tallied six months earlier. Meanwhile, the financial regulator said the combined net profit of specialized credit finance companies, excluding credit card firms, came to 1.56 trillion won in the first half, d own 60.7 billion won, or 3.8 percent, from a year earlier. There were 169 specialized credit finance firms as of end-June, according to the FSS. They include installment financing, leasing and new technology venture businesses. Source: Yonhap News Agency