Good afternoon, and thank you for attending today's call. We will now begin Meritz Financial Group's First Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. In today's call, we have prepared three sessions. First, CEO greeting. Second, first quarter 2025 earnings review. Third, Q&A session and will be placed in order. The Q&A session will be divided into two parts, on-site questions from analysts and institutional investors, and preliminary questions from general shareholders. Please refer to the transcript for the CEO greeting. First, we will start with the holding company. We have first quarter 2025 highlights on Page three. The holding company's consolidated assets reached KRW 119.7 trillion, up by 3.6% year-over-year. The cumulative consolidated net profit amounted to KRW 620.8 billion, up by 5% year-over-year.
The ROE stands at 24.6%, maintaining its position as one of the highest in the industry. Cumulative EPS and BPS for first quarter were 3,353 KRW, up 10.1% year-over-year, and 54,536 KRW, 0.1% increase from end of the year. Next is Page four. The holding company's consolidated net profit for first quarter 2025 was KRW 620.8 billion. Despite rising domestic and global uncertainties, net profit grew 5% year-over-year, supported by steady growth in net interest income and improved performance from financial product investments. Meritz F&M posted stand alone net profit of KRW 462.5 billion. Although Expected to actual variance income declined, this was offset by the reversal of onerous contract expenses and a significant increase in investment income.
Net profit declined 5.8% year-over-year. Meritz Securities delivered a net profit of KRW 230.7 billion, marking a 15.5% year-over-year increase, driven by strong performance in both corporate finance and asset management. Meritz Capital reported net profit of KRW 28.3 billion, up 9.3% year-over-year. Despite rising funding costs, the robust result in corporate finance supported the growth. Next is Page seven. For first quarter 2025, the holding company recorded Return on Equity of 24.6% and a double leverage ratio of 111.2%, continuing to maintain a high ROE and stable leverage profile. Earnings per share stood at KRW 3,353, and book value per share at KRW 54,536, reflecting a continued increase in per share value.
As of the end of first quarter, the group's total real estate exposure stood at KRW 26.3 trillion, KRW 21.8 trillion domestically and KRW 4.5 trillion overseas. Senior secured loans accounted for 92% of the total, with an average loan-to-value ratio of 44%, indicating high-quality asset portfolio. Provisions and reserves net addition amounted to KRW 586.1 billion, driven by provisioning for Homeplus loan assets and the upper adjustment of reserve ratios by asset quality classification. These actions reflect the proactive credit cost management. Total Homeplus loan exposure is KRW 1.2 trillion, with collateral of approximately KRW 4.8 trillion, ensuring no issues with principal and interest to recovery. All related exposures have been reclassified as Substandard assets and fully provisioned this quarter.
The midterm shareholder return policy currently in place will continue through 2025. A mid-cycle evaluation over the past two years indicates valuation normalization, evidenced by improved PER and other market indicators. Total shareholder return reached an outstanding 152.2% over the two-year period. The 2025 plan will maintain the current midterm shareholder return policy with TSR as a key performance metric and a payout ratio of 50% of consolidated net profit as the implementation target. Please refer to Page 12 for detailed updates. As of April, the company completed the full cancellation of KRW 1 trillion in treasury shares acquired since March 2024. The company is currently executing KRW 550 billion share buyback through a trust agreement signed on March 26th, 2025.
The company remains committed to its disclosed shareholder return policy. Next is the performance of our major subsidiaries. In first quarter 2025, Meritz Fire's stand alone net profit amounted to KRW 462.5 billion, representing a decline of approximately 5.8% year-over-year. Despite a significant drop in Expected to actual variance income due to favorable assumption changes at the end of last year and the base effect reversal from medical strike, this was offset by the reversal of onerous contract expenses and a substantial increase in investment income. Insurance profit came in at KRW 359.8 billion, down 21.4% from the same period last year.
While investment profit increased 29.3% year-over-year to KRW 262.1 billion. Although there was a reversal of expenses from the reduction in onerous contracts, insurance profit declined due to reduced long-term expected to actual variance income and the rise in loss ratio for auto and commercial insurance. Investment profit reached an all-time high, primarily driven by early redemptions of certain deals. First quarter performance by sectors are as follows. The long-term protection-type health insurance market recorded its highest ever volume in March due to the discontinuation of no and low surrender products. The company refrained from selling unprofitable products and focused on total value rather than total volume. As a result, new sales averaged KRW 9.4 billion per month, a 5.8% decrease year-over-year, but the quality of sales improved.
Auto insurance recorded a loss due to increased loss ratio caused by heavy snowfall and a cold wave in February. Commercial insurance also posted a loss due to rise in high accident events such as wildfires in North Gyeongsang Province. The next section on Page 14 covers the CSM movement and the new business CSM multiple. At the end of first quarter, the CSM balance stood at KRW 11.17 trillion, a decrease of approximately KRW 20.8 billion compared to the previous quarter. Quarterly CSM increased by KRW 356.8 billion, and interest expenses added KRW 89.6 billion, while CSM adjustments reduced the balance by KRW 179.5 billion. Quarterly amortization of CSM amounted to approximately KRW 287.6 billion.
The CSM conversion multiple for first quarter was approximately 12.2x, and for health protection type insurance, it stood at 12.5x, both showing an improvement trend compared to the previous quarter and the same period last year. Please refer to pages 16 and 17 for the investment yield and the K-ICS Ratio. The cumulative investment yield for first quarter was 4.1% with a preliminary K-ICS Ratio at 239%. Next is securities on Page 18. In first quarter 2025, consolidated net profit amounted to KRW 187.4 billion, marking a 48.1% increase year-over-year. Standalone net profit was KRW 230.7 billion, up 15.5% from the same period last year.
Excluding the capital dividend income received in March, standalone net profit reached KRW 153 billion, representing a significant 62.2% increase year-over-year. Despite rising domestic and external uncertainties, the company achieved substantial performance improvements in both corporate finance and asset management by actively sourcing new deals and responding effectively to market volatility. On Page 19 shows operating revenue by business. Corporate finance posted a profit of KRW 105.7 billion in first quarter, showing a significant improvement compared to the same period last year. This performance was driven by execution of various new deals and a reduction in credit cost expenses. Despite the decline in interest rates, financial margins improved slightly due to the increase in asset size. Asset management income rose significantly backed by dividend income from overseas equity investments.
Although brokers' performance declined due to promotional campaigns, wealth management showed strong growth supported by increased fee income from growing client deposits. Moving on to Page 23, risk management indicators. The consolidated net capital ratio stood at 1,234%, improving quarter-over-quarter as net operating capital increased despite the continued rise in total risk exposure. In first quarter, following the initiation of Homeplus' rehabilitation proceedings, related loan assets were reclassified as Substandard, leading to an increase in the ratio of Substandard or lower-rated exposures to 6.5%. For capital earnings and more details on securities, please refer to the materials.