Pushing into Global Market
South Korean insurance companies are increasing the number of their overseas offices but they still show a loss.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on May 2, 10 domestic insurance companies – three life insurance and seven indemnity insurance firms – had a total of 42 overseas offices, including 32 local subsidiaries and 10 branches, at the end of last year.
By country, China and the United States took up the most with nine each, followed by Vietnam with five, Indonesia with four, Singapore with three and Japan with two.
By type of business, insurance business had the highest share with 36 – 24 indemnity insurance and five life insurance firms and seven insurance brokers, followed by investment business with six.
The total assets of insurance companies’ overseas offices amounted to US$8.89 billion (9.57 trillion won) at the end of last year, up 22.2 percent from a year ago. By country, China had US$5.54 billion (5.96 trillion won) worth of assets, while the U.S. recorded at US$1.34 billion (1.44 trillion won). This is largely due to the growth of operating assets, including marketable securities, as the performance in insurance operation has increased.
However, insurance firms’ overseas offices posted US$23.2 million (24.97 billion won) in net losses last year. The figure dramatically dropped compared to net losses of US$47.1 million (50.7 billion won) in 2016. An official from the FSS said, “We will establish a close cooperation system with local financial supervisory authorities and actively help domestic insurance companies to push into the global market.”