Kyobo gets best rating among insurers from Fitch, Moody's

By Kim Bo-eun

Kyobo Life Insurance's headquarters in central Seoul / Courtesy of Kyobo Life Insurace

Kyobo Life Insurance said Thursday it had received the best rating in the local insurance industry from global rating agencies Fitch Ratings and Moody's.

The country's third-largest life insurer got an A1 rating from Moody's and an A+ rating from Fitch, earning recognition for its financial health and risk management capabilities.

Kyobo received the A1 rating from Moody's for the first time in 2015, and has maintained the same rating for five years since.

A1 is the fifth highest out of a total of 21 ratings.

Moody's said the rating reflects Kyobo's "good business profile, strengthened capitalization and low financial leverage."

Fitch rated Kyobo at A+, which is its highest rating in the industry. Kyobo became the first local life insurer to get the A+ rating in 2013, and has maintained the rating since.

Kyobo recorded an accumulated net profit of 689.3 billion won in the first three quarters of the year, up 21 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Its operating profit for the same period stood at 805.5 billion won, a 16 percent year-on-year growth.