Overseas branches of South Korean insurance firms reported a 34.8 percent drop in their combined net profit for 2020, mainly due to economic pains from the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Monday.

The overseas branches posted a combined net profit of $45.6 million last year, compared with a net profit of $69.9 million in 2019, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

"COVID-19's impact on the life insurers' business and the increased losses of nonlife insurance companies led to a year-on-year decline in net income," the FSS said in a statement.

Korean insurers operate 35 branches in 11 nations, including nine in the United States and five in China.

At the end of last year, the total assets of insurers' overseas branches stood at $5.4 billion, the data showed. (Yonhap)