Kyobo Life seeks expansion in cultural industry

Kyobo Life Insurance Chairman Shin Chang-jae speaks during the Vision2025 proclamation ceremony at the company's headquarters in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Kyobo Life Insurance

By Park Jae-hyuk

Kyobo Life Insurance, which has been engaged in the life insurance business over the past 60 years, held the Vision2025 proclamation ceremony at its Seoul headquarters, Wednesday, to declare it would become a leading company in both the cultural and financial industries by 2025 to pursue innovation in customer value.

“Digitization has brought disruptive innovation to the entire industry, not just to the insurance and financial sectors,” Kyobo Life Chairman Shin Chang-jae said at the event. “As big tech firms have accelerated entry into the financial industry, customers have raised expectations, boundaries among industries have blurred and new business models have emerged.”

The chairman emphasized new strategies are needed for survival and growth in this completely changed world, proclaiming that the Vision2025 means becoming a leading company in cultural and financial industries, which provides value beyond insurance.

“It means becoming an innovative company that creates creative customer experience and values embracing culture and finance, through expansion into the new business fields of financial investment and cultural businesses beyond the insurance business,” he said.

According to Kyobo Life, its new vision is intended to help all people enjoy mentally and physically affluent lives with intellectual, financial and social growth through various cultural experiences. The company plans to expand insurance coverage and provide differentiated customer experiences and services in the cultural and financial investment sectors to achieve this goal.

It is expected to utilize Kyobo Book Centre and the Daesan Foundation equipped with ample cultural experience and data. It will also likely cooperate with its affiliates engaging in securities, asset management and trust businesses to offer upgraded financial investment services.

With the proclamation of the new vision, the insurer seems to be accelerating its “ambidextrous management,” which the chairman has emphasized to secure new growth engines, while improving its insurance business amid the pursuit of digitization.

The company seeks to set up a group-wide platform to secure new growth engines and to increase investments in cultural and financial businesses, while strengthening its competitiveness in digital-based insurance services.

It also plans to provide differentiated financial services regarding asset and health management using its MyData license, and financial education in collaboration with its affiliates.

“We will move forward to achieve our vision of becoming a leading company in the cultural and financial sectors over the next five years,” a Kyobo Life official said. “We will also lead in helping customers enjoy more affluent lives by adding the engine of culture to insurance and finance.”