South Korea’s insurers saw their foreign business return to the black last year on the back of gains from Europe and US, but the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) warned of uncertainty from changing economic conditions.
The 11 Korean life and non-life insurers posted a net income of US$159.1 million from their business abroad, bouncing back from a $14.3 million loss in 2023, the FSS says in a statement on May 8.
Net income from the US was $34.5 million, recovering from a $149.8 million loss in 2023, while income from Europe grew by $5.4 million to $9.5 million.
But the FSS says net income from Asia dropped to $115.1 million from $131.4 million in 2023 as insurers’ operations were hard bit by natural disasters in the region.
“The changing economic situations could increase uncertainty about the overseas businesses,” the financial regulator says. “Therefore, the FSS will closely monitor financial stability of the insurers’ overseas businesses and the development of business plan[s] of newly established operations.”
The insurers’ overseas assets were up 14.3% to $7.34 billion last year from $6.42 billion in 2023.