Tong Yang flexing insurance muscle

By Kang Seung-woo

Tong Yang Life Insurance is cruising to its largest revenue for a second straight time in the fiscal year 2010 on the back of efficient management and diversified income channels.

As of the end of December 2010, Tong Yang’s sales registered 2.91 trillion won, up 18.81 percent from the previous year, and its net profit increased 67.82 percent year-on-year to 125.7 billion won, which put the life insurer on pace to reach about 3.6 trillion won in sales and around 160 billion won in net income along with 15.7 percent in return on equity (ROE), the measure of profitability.

Thanks to its strong run, Tong Yang is projected to stretch its profit to 12 straight years, eclipsing the largest earnings ever every year except for 2008, when its profit weakened due to the global financial crisis.

The industry says that the management has led the insurance company efficiently and its various products have also contributed to the firm steadily raking in money.

Tong Yang became the first local life insurer to be listed on the stock market in October 2009.

The IPO made the insurance firm more transparent and more reliable for financial investors.

The stock market debut also improved the brand recognition among the potential insurance customers in and out of Korea, as it has already drawn great attention from domestic and foreign investors.

Tong Yang is seen as one of the most successful life insurers to take advantage of new channels including bancassurance, direct insurance and general agency.

It plans to explore new channels based on individual distribution to secure a solid earnings structure.

Since its IPO, Tong Yang Life has shown a steady growth in many categories.

Its total assets stood at 12.31 trillion won as of December last year, up more than 1.2 trillion won from 2009, and its premium income jumped 20.79 percent to 2.59 trillion won during the same period.