By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Kyobo Life Insurance CEO Shin Chang-jae attended a very special event in Taiwan this week. He presented four renowned insurance researchers with the ``Shin Research Excellence Award,'' a prize commemorating his late father Shin Yong-ho, the founder of Kyobo Life Insurance.
The ceremony was held at the 2008 International Insurance Society annual meeting in Taipei Monday, in which around 500 people including CEOs, managers and insurance scholars from 32 countries around the world participated.
The award was created by the International Insurance Society back in 1997, to commemorate the late Shin who made a huge contribution to the international insurance industry as well as Korea. The late founder of the insurer was also a renowned activist who sought the country's independence from Japan when it was occupied.
The award was given to four insurance scholars this year. Gustavo Ferro, a professor at Universidad Argentina de la Empresa, won the award for his thesis, ``The Market's Response to Ageing: Mega or Mini?'' Thomas W. Sager, a statistics professor at the University of Texas at Austin was awarded with his co-author Etti G. Baranoff, an insurance and finance professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University. Wei Zheng from Peking University also won the award with a thesis comparing seven insurance markets.