South Korea’s nonlife insurers saw their overseas operations swing to a net loss in the first half of the fiscal 2012 from a year earlier on increased insurance payouts, the financial regulator said Wednesday.

The combined net loss of 23 overseas units managed by six local nonlife insurers reached $6.36 million in the April-September period, compared with a net profit of $7.73 million the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

The loss came as their insurance payouts increased following floods in Thailand and the earthquake in New Zealand, and the Singaporean branch of Korean Re, Korea’s top reinsurer, posted a huge loss, the FSS added.

When Korean Re’s results were excluded, the nonlife insurers logged a combined net profit of $8.42 million in the cited period, down 23.7 percent from the previous year, it added.
 

(Yonhap News)