Kookmin Bank, South Korea's second-largest lender by assets, has won a lawsuit against the country's tax agency to get back 442 billion won ($408.7 million) in tax it has paid, industry sources said Thursday.

In 2007, the bank was hit with heavy taxes by the National Tax Service as the lender set aside 932 billion won in loan-loss provision after a merger with its struggling credit card unit.

The NTS argued that the lender intended to avoid corporate tax by setting aside huge loan-loss reserves.

According to the source, the Supreme Court has upheld a lower court's ruling that Kookmin Bank did not have the intention to breach tax regulations, ordering the NTS to give back the 442 billion won worth of corporate tax.

Market watchers expect that the tax return will help jack up the lender's earnings for the year.

Kookmin Bank ranked second with 905 billion won in net profit through September last year, following Shinhan Bank with 1.2 trillion won.

KB Financial Group Inc., the holding company of Kookmin Bank, closed at 36,550 won on the Seoul bourse, down 0.41 percent from the previous session's close, with the benchmark KOSPI inching up 0.03 percent. (Yonhap)