Home > Business > Finance

Net profit of foreign banks in Korea spikes over 14% in 2024

Published: 27 Mar. 2025, 11:34 Updated: 27 Mar. 2025, 13:53

The Financial Supervisory Service logo [YONHAP]

Foreign bank branches in Korea continued to enjoy a rise in their net profit last year as a sharp increase in their gains from trading of foreign currencies and derivatives more than offset a decline in their interest income, data showed Thursday.

The combined net profit of 32 foreign banks here came to 1.78 trillion won ($1.21 billion) in 2024, up 224 billion won, or 14.4 percent, from 1.56 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

The on-year increase came despite a sharp drop in interest income as the local branches of the foreign banks posted a 2.23 trillion won profit from foreign exchange trading and derivatives trading, more than doubling from the previous year's profit of 1.02 trillion won.

Their interest income tumbled 22.2 percent to 959 billion won from 1.23 trillion won over the cited period.

Yonhap