Hanwha to launch first digital non-life insurer this month

By Kim Bo-eun

Hanwha General Insurance's building in Yeouido, Seoul / Korea Times file

Hanwha General Insurance will launch Korea's first digital non-life insurer, dubbed Carrot, as a subsidiary this month, the company said Friday

“A contract was signed to transfer Hanwha's rights pertaining to a new digital non-life insurer to Carrot,” an official said.

Carrot has 85 billion won in capital and Hanwha General Insurance is the largest shareholder with a 75.1 percent stake, followed by SK Telecom (9.9 percent), Altos Fund (9.9 percent) and Hyundai Motor (5.1 percent).

Hanwha General Insurance held a general meeting in May to establish Carrot, and named the head of Hanwha's digital projects as the company's CEO.

Carrot will be based at the Ferrum Tower in central Seoul.

Insurers are moving to set up businesses that employ online channels as their sole platform of policy sales, to save costs and adapt to the digital era. This is because a large part of insurers' expenditures comes from employing sales agents.

The market for non-life insurers has become increasingly tough, with major companies seeing their net profits fall in the first quarter of the year.

Hanwha General Insurance was one of them, with its net profit for the first quarter crashing 65.6 percent to 10.1 billion won, from the same period a year earlier.