Dongbu Insurance CEO Kim Soon-hwan

By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter

Dongbu Insurance seeks to become a sustainable global enterprise in the 21st century by maximizing customer satisfaction, practicing ethnical management and creating an employee-friendly workplace, company CEO Kim Soon-hwan said.

Kim also said the non-life insurer has adopted an internationally competitive management system and built strong overseas business networks, emerging as one of the world's most profitable companies.

``There are six key shared values in our corporate culture: customer-centered, field-oriented, professionalism, a challenging spirit, practice-oriented and reliability-based. We have been instituting these values that incorporate character and innovation in the insurance business to satisfy our customers and help our workers put them into action,'' the CEO said.

Kim said Dongbu Insurance started as the nation's first auto insurance company, putting top priority on making its customers happy with the philosophy of ``people are served ahead of automobiles,'' adding that it will continue to develop new sales channels, introduce timely insurance products and improve customer services.

To make clients happy, employees have to be happy first, he said, stressing the non-life insurer has been making efforts to create the best workplace. ``We were selected as a good labor-management culture company in 2006, and received the best workplace award in 2008. Our vision is to emerge as a business that places the highest value on employees.''

To become a globally competitive and sustainable insurance firm, it is necessary for Dongbu to grow along with the community. The non-life insurer has been involved in a number of social volunteer works, providing financial and other types of support to those in need, the CEO said.

``Our Promy Volunteer Group has been engaged in various activities to improve living conditions for the elderly, orphans and other socially disadvantaged people. We are also organizing a traffic accident prevention campaign, and providing scholarships and living expenses to children whose parents died in traffic accidents,'' Kim said, adding these activities have helped Dongbu upgrade its corporate image.

He said Dongbu is a pioneer when it comes to adopting ethical management in the domestic non-life insurance industry, stressing it will continue to practice transparent business management and try to spread it across the industry.

``We will make every effort to become more profitable, secure new growth engines and strengthen our core competence in the future, maximizing interests of customers, employees and shareholders. At the same time, we will enhance our corporate social responsibility to prosper along with the community surrounding us,'' the CEO stressed.

leehs@koreatimes.co.kr