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Tong Yang Life Sets Eyes on Pension Market

By Kim Jae-won Staff Reporter Tong Yang Life is not the biggest life insurer here but has been long regarded as on one of the most profitable and healthiest players thanks to its customer-oriented business practices and management philosophy. After successfully weathering the global financial crisis, the company has set an ambitious vision to become one of Korea's leading life insurers and a global financial leader. To that end, it first aims to join the league of Korea's leading firms in the field by 2012 by adopting a balanced growth strategy and finding opportunities in newly-emerging areas, such as the pension market. Currently, three major companies ― Samsung Life, Kyobo Life, and Korea Life ― have dominated the local market, occupying about half of it, and Tong Yang has been a runner-up. However, it now hopes to leap forward to become one of the four big players within three years. Tong Yang joined the Korea Exchange last October, becoming the first life insurer to be listed. Its total assets breached 10 trillion won last year, and are expected to reach 100 bil

CEO Advocates Back-to-Basics Management

By Cho Jin-seo Staff Reporter People buy insurance so they can receive help when they are struggling financially. Shin Eun-chul, CEO and Vice Chairman of Korea Life, says this is the first of four lessons he learned from his 38 years in the insurance industry. Not many people can claim more knowledge and experience in life insurance than Shin, who started his career in 1972. Almost four decades later and in the eighth year of his leadership at Korea Life, he wants his firm to focus on the basics of the business more than ever before. Shin's management philosophy consists of four pillars, each represented by a four-letter Chinese idiom. The first of the four is "be faithful to your fundamentals." During the past several years, many life insurance firms have been diverting their businesses to other financial services. But despite what others do, Shin has put his focus on raising the competency of the life insurance itself. For clients, the most important factor is whether they can receive a claim when they need it. Knowing this, Korea Life has maintained the most conser

Korea Life Making Forays Into Vietnam, China

By Cho Jin-seo Staff Reporter The skyline of the Han River is dominated by the sleek golden tower of 63 City, the headquarters of Korea Life. It was the tallest building outside North America back when it was constructed in 1985 in the financial center of Yeouido. It is natural, then, for the management of Korea Life to have a bird's-eye view on the insurance industry, with greater ambitions than its peers. The 64-year-old life insurer wants to become a trend setter in two aspects this year. The first is to become the first major insurer here to offer its shares to the public. The second is to become the first to have a global retail network. The first mission is already on its due course. On Mar. 17, shares of Korea Life will be floating on the KOSPI stock market, two months ahead of the initial public offering (IPO) of its rival Samsung Life. By offering 210 million of old and new shares, the firm plans to raise 1.72 trillion won from the IPO. This will add a little more than 1 trillion won to the firm's account. And the IPO will a symbolic meaning for Korea Life

Listings to Change Landscape of Life Insurance Industry

By Yoon Ja-young Staff Reporter The landscape of the local life insurance industry is expected to undergo a major facelift, with the nation's leading life insurers debuting on the main bourse in the coming months. Following the listing of Tong Yang Life Insurance last year, Samsung, Korea and Mirae Asset Life Insurance are all planning listings this year. It is expected to upgrade the local life insurance industry by enhancing transparency and paving the way for local players to foray into overseas markets. "The listing of Samsung Life Insurance will be one of the biggest listing events of the bourse. When adding the listing of Korea Life Insurance, a tremendous amount of money will flow into the exchange," said Park Ga-young, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities. She expects up to 27 trillion won for the listings, which is 3 percent of the total market cap of the bourse. "Though their profit is small compared to their assets, life insurers are likely to rise as a new investment alternative in the finance sector," Samsung Securities said in a report.

Global Insurers Bolster Capital After Crisis

This is the third in a 12-part series of “The Korea Times ? the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Joint Project” designed to identify new realities in the post-crisis world and provide winning strategies for leading Korean firms in 11 key industries. In cooperation with BCG, The Korea Times will look into a wide variety of issues both in the global economy and major indstries. - ED. By Yoon Ja-young Staff Reporter The life insurance industry is likely to focus on bolstering capital this year in the wake of the worldwide financial crisis, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG). "Concern over additional trouble in the credit market and the strengthening of regulations on capital adequacy will be key management issues for the industry. Insurers with abundant capital will have an opportunity to increase market capitalization," BCG said. The consulting company expects regulations to get tougher for life insurance firms. "Rules will get stricter, regarding finance and accounting, capital adequacy, systematic risk management and consumer protection," BCG said. Indu

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