IY Bank said Friday it posted a net profit of 5 billion yen in fiscal 2003, the firm's first profit since it started operating three years ago.
In fiscal 2002, it posted a net loss of 8.2 billion yen. Sales in fiscal 2003 came to 29.1 billion yen.
The online bank, which was established in April 2001 by retailer Ito-Yokado Co., cleared its initial target of recording a profit within three years.
The government instructed the bank to do so when it gave it a banking business license.
The company's brisk earnings were attributed to its growing number of automated teller machines, which stood at 7,804 as of the end of March.
Most of the machines are located at Seven-Eleven convenience stores and Ito-Yokado stores.
"We set 2,554 ATMs in fiscal 2003 to meet growing demand of our online banking services," IY Bank President Takashi Anzai said at a news conference.
IY Bank expects its sales to reach 41.4 billion yen in fiscal 2004, Anzai said. Yet the bank has yet to estimate a net profit figure for the year, he added.
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