Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Meritz flourishes on Chairman Cho's meritocracy-based management
Meritz Financial Group Chairman Cho Jung-ho / Courtesy of Meritz Financial Group
By Anna J. Park
Meritz Financial Group posts 30-fold growth during past two decades
By Anna J. Park
Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance has achieved exponential growth since the company broke off from Hanjin Group's affiliates back in 2005. During the past 17 years, the company's market cap has increased to 4.5 trillion won ($3.1 billion), which is more than a 23-fold growth rate, while the insurer's assets also recorded a 10-times increase to reach 28 trillion won.
When the comparison is extended to the entirety of Meritz Financial Group, which includes both the non-life insurer and a brokerage company, the growth is even more salient; the financial group's total asset size stood at nearly 90 trillion won as of June this year, which is a 30-fold increase from that of the group back in 2005.
Behind the impressive exponential growth is Meritz Financial Group Chairman Cho Jung-ho, who is the youngest son of Cho Choong-hoon, the late founder of Hanjin Group. Chairman Cho broke off the financial affiliates from Hanjin Group back in 2005 and renamed them Meritz Financial Group.
Under Chairman Cho's leadership, Meritz Financial Group has yielded incomparable, exponential growth. Chairman Cho is known to give full autonomy to CEOs of the group's affiliates, respecting their judgments based on their expertise.
Such a strong tradition of meritocracy within the financial group has been possible due to Chairman Cho's prioritizing the provision of a clear reward system solely based on each employee's capabilities and performance. It has created an efficient and age-flexible corporate system with many young executive members present, with the financial group's key employees often being listed as the country's best-paid financial workers every year.