Foreign bank branches in South Korea saw their combined net profit rise 28.6 percent in 2020 from a year earlier on a modest gain in interest income, data showed Thursday.

The combined net income of 36 foreign lenders' local branches stood at 1.15 trillion won ($1.03 billion) last year, up 255.7 billion won from a year earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

The increase was mainly attributable to marked growth in their income from foreign exchange and derivatives gains, the FSS said.

At the end of last year, the combined assets of foreign bank branches in South Korea totaled 330.1 trillion won, up 8.1 percent from a year earlier, and their debt also rose 8.1 percent to 310.3 trillion won.

The FSS said it will bolster its monitoring of foreign bank branches in preparation for possible volatility in the domestic and overseas financial markets. (Yonhap)