Korea Life Goes Into Expansion Mode
By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Korea Life Insurance aims at pulling up its market share in Vietnam to 7 percent in three years, its CEO said Monday.
``The local insurance market is becoming saturated, so advancement overseas is a must,'' Shin Eun-chul, CEO and vice chairman of Korea Life Insurance, said at a meeting with the press.
He said that the firm is focusing on Southeast Asia, China and India rather than Western countries as they have a similar cultural background. ``Insurance is a cultural business,'' he said.
The insurer has been making notable achievements in Vietnam. Korea Life Insurance advanced into the market there in April last year ― the first Korean life insurer ― and has mostly sold endowment, education and universal life insurance.
It took 3 percent of the market in terms of new sales, only one year after starting operations. The number of new sales totaled 10,000 and the first year insurance premium income reached $3 million.
``That is a notable achievement,'' said a spokesman at the insurer. ``We owe the success to localization. Only three out of 87 staff members are Koreans,'' he added. Various social contribution programs also helped the insurer give a positive impression to customers.
Korea Life Insurance started business in Vietnam with 450 salespeople, but the figure now hovers over 3,000. Shin said it plans to increase the number to 10,000 in three years, and pull up annual insurance premium income to $35 million.
Korea Life Insurance successfully debuted on the bourse last month. Its initial offering price, however, was set at 8,200 won, lower than the 9,000 won to 11,000 won band the insurer had expected.
Shin expects the share price to rise when Samsung Life Insurance is listed next month and following insurance businesses' posting of their annual performance.
Shin said the listing will benefit customers. ``With the listing, we plan to grow into a global life insurer that gives the best value for shareholders and greater satisfaction to our customers.''
He said it would upgrade customer services using the funding from the bourse to develop new products and improve sales channels.
He also said that it is considering changing the company name to Hanwha Life Insurance, to stress its affiliation with Hanwha Group. The group has successfully expanded its business scope in the financial industry after acquiring Korea Life Insurance in 2002.