Banks’ net income from overseas business jumps 34 pct on-year in 2023

South Korean banks' net income from overseas business jumped more than 34 percent from a year earlier in 2023, data showed Wednesday. The combined net income of domestic banks' overseas operations came to US$1.33 billion last year, compared with a net profit of $991 million posted the previous year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. Interest income gained 5.4 percent on-year to $3.62 billion, while non-interest income spiked 74 percent to $693 million. Their return on assets, which shows the companies' profitability in relation to their total assets, climbed to 0.63 percent in 2023 from 0.49 percent the previous year, with their total assets growing 3.5 percent to $210.2 billion from $203.1 billion over the cited period. The ratio of loans classified as substandard or below (SBLs) of the overseas businesses stood at 1.74 percent as of year-end 2023, up 0.23 percentage point from 1.51 percent a year earlier, according to the financial regulator. The SBL ratios increased in Cam bodia and the United States, but fell in Indonesia, Japan and Singapore. As of end-2023, domestic banks were operating 202 subsidiaries, local branches and offices in 41 countries, compared with 207 operations in 40 countries a year before. Source: Yonhap News Agency