Overseas Branches of Domestic Banks Post Surplus 1st Quarter

Overseas branches of domestic banks which had suffered losses posted a surplus in their business operations during the first quarter of 1999.
The Financial Supervisory Service said on June 4 that overseas branches turned 1.05 billion dollars deficit in 1998 into 96 million dollars surplus in the last quarter.
The FSS explained that the black ink is due to the improvement in efficiency of the business operation environment of the banks, brought about by the closing of ailing branches and the reduction of employees.
Hanvit Bank recorded a 31 million dollar surplus, followed by the Korea Exchange Bank at 28 million dollars. Cho Hung Bank and Shinhan Bank posted the same amount at 9 million dollars, and the Seoul Bank surplus was at 5 million dollars.
The number of overseas branches with a deficit decreased sharply to 13 (13.7 percent of the total) in March from 49 (51 percent of the total) in December last year.
The total number of branches abroad has declined to 103 as of the end of last March from 198 at the end of 1997.

Jangsoo Seo:jsbee@joongang.co.kr