The Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives, the nation’s leading mutual financial institution, said Tuesday it has managed to post strong profits despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the leadership of President Park Cha-hoon and Ryu Hyuk, chief executive officer of Credit & Insurance -- the KFCC’s business unit responsible for building strategies for the group’s financial management as well as operating deduction services -- the cooperative logged a net profit of 323.2 billion won ($273.1 million) in 2020, up 70 percent from 2018, when it posted 190.5 billion won. The figure for the first half year of this year reached 208.9 billion won, officials said. 

The earnings boost came as the KFCC diversified its investment portfolio to counter the prolonged low-rate environment amid the pandemic. The financial cooperative, for instance, expanded its alternative investments such as real estate or commodities, which fall outside the traditional investment types, including stocks and cash, they explained.

The organization’s alternative investments accounted for nearly 30 percent of its investment scheme as of September, sharply up from the 20 percent estimated in 2019. 

Separately, the KFCC sets up its long-term plan for fund management that specifies asset allocation and investment strategies, every three years, in a bid to maintain its fiscal soundness. 

“The KFCC, which supervises Saemaul Geumgo, or the Korean Village Bank, a community-based financial institution, will ramp up efforts to strengthen its asset management,” a KFCC official said.