The overseas businesses of South Korean insurance companies recorded a net income of $197m in 2025, $37.9m higher than the $159.1m recorded a year earlier, according to data released by the Financial Supervisory Service.
As for life insurers, net income stood at $45.3m. That is about 70% higher year on year, owing to the strong performance of newly consolidated overseas businesses.
The South Korean regulator added that, excluding newly consolidated companies and divested entities, net income of life insurers decreased by $13.5m from a year earlier. By contrast, net income of non-life insurance companies decreased by $7.4m, or 7.8%, to $87.7m due to natural catastrophes in 2025.
At the end of December 2025, the aggregate assets of the insurance companies’ overseas businesses amounted to $16.24bn, up 121.2% from $7.34bn a year earlier.
Four South Korean life insurance companies and eight non-life insurance companies operated 46 overseas businesses in 11 countries as of year-end 2025.
The regulator said, “Uncertainty in the overseas business environment is increasing due to heightened volatility in global financial markets amid Middle East tensions and the growing risk of natural disasters resulting from climate change.”