By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter

Foreign insurance companies operating here are actively promoting their stability to cope with subscribers' possible concerns over them following the bailout of the U.S. insurance giant AIG.

European insurance companies are stressing that they have been managing assets conservatively compared with American insurers, while U.S. companies emphasize that they are not like AIG.

German insurer Allianz Life and French insurer Kyobo AXA are comfortable compared with others, thanks to the European headquarters' good performances. ``AXA has been managing assets very conservatively. We haven't got any concerned calls from subscribers yet,'' a Kyobo AXA spokesperson said. AXA Group became the world's biggest insurer after the fall of AIG.

The only concern for PCA Life Insurance, a U.K. insurer, is that people might take it as a U.S. insurance company. It said it has nothing to do with Prudential Financial in the United States, the stocks of which the U.S. government was considering buying according to wire services. PCA Life said its headquarters had strong performances.

ING, a Dutch insurer and the biggest foreign life insurer in the country, is having trouble compared with other European insurers. News of the Dutch government supporting ING's banking sector with a 10 billion euro package made some subscribers worried, but ING Life stressed that it is different from the U.S. government's bailout package of AIG. ``It's for businesses with financial stability and sustainable management,'' the insurer's spokeswoman said.

ING in Seoul announced a capital increase to strengthen its financial stability. ``ING Life already satisfied the financial conditions that the regulator requires, with a solvency margin ratio of 140 percent as of June. But we are voluntarily increasing capital to increase competitiveness,'' she said.

New York Life Korea said it corrected the Wall Street Journal article which reported that the U.S. government was considering buying stakes in insurers, including New York Life. ``The story was incorrect with respect to New York Life, and the Wall Street Journal has subsequently posted a corrected article on its Web site and in newspapers published in Asia and Europe,'' it said in an announcement. ``New York Life is a mutual company, which does not require any additional capital.'' The spokesperson said New York Life managed assets very conservatively, and stressed that it earned the highest ratings for financial strength from all four of the major credit rating agencies.

Subscribers of AIG here panicked on the news of the $85 billion bailout last month, canceling subscriptions. The Financial Supervisory Service had to announce that there would be no damage to subscribers here.

It seems that subscribers of MetLife and Prudential Life Insurance, the other U.S. insurers operating here, need not worry. They are reported to be included in a capital purchase program on financially healthy firms by the government, not a bailout, and it mostly aims at easing credit crunch as these insurers are big investors in corporate bonds. MetLife's sales, for example, grew 16 percent from the previous year.

chizpizza@koreatimes.co.kr