Korean Re expands foothold in South America

By Kim Bo-eun

Korean Re CEO Won Jong-gyu

The Korean Reinsurance Company (Korean Re) is set to grow its business in South America through a new office in Bogota, Columbia, the firm said Thursday.

According to Korean Re, it received approval from local authorities Feb. 18 to open the office.

Central and South America have great growth potential as the insurance penetration rate is low compared with other continents.

Korean Re said it sought to establish a new base in the region to disperse its continent-based portfolios.

The company said Columbia is in a strategic location to operate a business in Central and South America.

Several global reinsurers including Munich Re, Swiss Re and the France-based SCOR are in Bogota.

Korean Re now has 12 overseas outlets ― three subsidiaries, four branches and five offices. Six were opened in the past five years under CEO Won Jong-gyu's leadership.

Korean Re opened a subsidiary in London in 2015 and branches in Labuan, Malaysia, in 2017 and Dubai in 2018. Subsidiaries were opened in Zurich last year and in Shanghai in January.

"A base in Central and South America will enable more active pioneering into new markets," Won said. "We will continue efforts to overcome the saturated local market and become a top-class global reinsurer."

Korean Re's insurance premiums from overseas businesses grew to 1.86 trillion won in 2018, up from 1.64 trillion in 2017 and 1.45 trillion in 2016.

Korean Re is the world's 10th-largest reinsurance company in terms of gross written premiums.