Foreign bank branches in South Korea saw their earnings plunge 38.1 percent last year from a year earlier due to greater losses from their derivatives sales, the financial regulator said Wednesday.
The combined net income of foreign banks' 37 local branches, including HSBC Ltd. and Deutsche Bank, came to 1.47 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in 2010, compared with 2.38 trillion won the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
The weaker bottom line came as foreign bank players' losses from sales of financial derivatives products expanded last year while their profits from foreign currency trading lost sharp ground, the watchdog said.
The local branches posted a combined loss of 403 billion won in the derivatives and foreign currency segments last year, compared with a profit of 1.76 trillion won in 2009, the watchdog said.
As of the end of 2010, a total of 53 domestic outlets run by 37 overseas banks held 194.9 trillion won in total assets, down 14.6 trillion won from a year earlier, it said. (Yonhap)