[THE INVESTOR] South Korean banks’ net income from their branches abroad fell more than 17 percent in the first half of this year, government data showed on Oct. 5.

Local banks had a total of 173 branches in 39 foreign countries as of end-June, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

Most of the overseas operations were concentrated in Asia, accounting for 66.5 percent of the total, followed by 12.7 percent in Europe and North America, respectively.

Their combined assets came to US$88.86 billion, up 0.6 percent from US$88.32 billion recorded half a year earlier.

It accounts for 4.6 percent of the total assets of domestic banks.

Their net profits declined 17.5 percent on-year to US$310 million during the January-June period.

“It’s mainly attributable to hikes in banks’ loan loss reserves,” the FSS said.

By region, net profits in Indonesia climbed, while those of most other branches in other nations dropped.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)