Korean banks saw total earnings from overseas operations soar 95.5 percent last year from a year earlier thanks to a sharp drop in credit loss and a turnaround in securities related income, the country's financial regulator said Wednesday.

Net income by 93 overseas units and branches operated by 11 local banks stood at $721.6 million in 2011, upfrom $352.5 million for the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

The stronger bottom line came after banks' credit loss shrank 68.4 percent on-year to $112.1 million from $354.8 million in the previous year, the FSS said.

It added that a positive turnaround in securities related profits and gains in interest income contributed to better earnings.

Securities related income reached $153.3 million from minus $116.0 million in 2010, while interest income rose 4.3 percent on-year due to lower costs of borrowing money, It said foreign outlets registered $1.18 billion in interest earnings last year from $1.13 billion in the previous year.

Total assets of the foreign operations reached $64.0 billion as of the end of 2011, from 56.5 percent tallied a year earlier, with so-called return of assets gaining 0.58 percentage point to 1.19 percent, the regulator said. (Yonhap)