Lee to Head General Insurance Association
By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
General Insurance Association of Korea (GIAK) selected Lee Sang-yong as its new chairman.
The association said it chose Lee, former chairman & CEO of Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC), at the general meeting attended by CEOs of its 16 member non-life insurers. He will succeed Ahn Kong-hyuk, current chairman of the association, whose term ends on Aug. 26.
Born in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province in 1947, Lee graduated from Busan High School and majored in law at Seoul National University. He made rapid progress in government after passing the national exam to pick ranking government officials in 1973.
Lee served at various major posts in the Ministry of Finance and Economy, including life insurance, economic cooperation and international taxation divisions. He also served as head of the National Tax College and the National Tax Tribunal before joining KDIC. His latest career includes auditor at the Bank of Korea.
Lee is known to be an expert in the insurance industry, and has been acknowledged for successfully restructuring the financial industry while serving at the KDIC.
Pending tasks for Lee include helping auto insurers suffering deficit and representing the non-life insurers faced with the revision of the insurance industry act. Other major issues that Lee has to deal with include pension insurance in the non-life insurers' business portfolio and increasing insurers' pie, faced with the expansion of bancassurance.