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Seoul Financial Hub

Domestic financial industry

Insurance companies

Overview

The domestic insurance industry is divided into three categories by the Insurance Business Act of Korea: life insurance business, non-life insurance business, and tertiary insurance business because its primary functions are to provide insurance, collect premiums, and disburse insurance funds related to the handling of insurance products. There are no insurance businesses that only sell tertiary insurance, thus it can be broadly divided into two categories: life insurance and non-life insurance. However, the tertiary insurance business possesses both features of a life insurance business and a non-life insurance business.

The domestic insurance market is currently in the following state.

There are currently 32 non-life insurance businesses and 22 life insurance companies in business (As of December 2023),
As of December 2023, and life insurance firms had assets totaling KRW 881 trillion while non-life insurance companies had assets totaling KRW 344 trillion
(As of December 2023).

The following list outlines the range of each subfield's work.

Specific field Work field
Life insurance
  • Life insurance
  • Pension insurance (including retirement insurance)
  • Additional insurance policies mandated by presidential decree
Non-life insurance
  • Fire insurance
  • Marine insurance (including air and transport insurance)
  • Auto mobile insurance
  • Guarantee insurance
  • Reinsurance
  • Additional insurance policies mandated by presidential decree
Following are the important financial and management indicators of companies involved in the insurance industry.
(Unit: KRW trillion, %)
  Division 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Life insurance companies Total assets 918.2 977.3 992.4 938.3 880.9
Net income 3.11 3.45 3.94 3.71 5.09
Risk Based Capital(RBC) 284.5 297.2 254.4 206.4 224.5
Return on Assets(ROA) 0.35 0.36 0.40 0.38 0.58
Return on Equity(ROE)
 3.87 3.76 4.28 5.39 4.93
Non-life insurance companies Total assets 320.7 344.1 366.3 371.8 343.7
Net income 2.22 2.62 4.33 5.47 8.26
Risk Based Capital(RBC) 238.9 233.9 231.4 205.1 221.2
Return on Assets(ROA) 0.72 0.79 1.22 1.48 2.4
Return on Equity(ROE) 5.48 5.87 9.22 12.74 13.07
You can check the list of member companies and industry statistics through the website of the self-regulating body (association).
Reference : Life Insurance Association (www.klia.or.kr), Non-life Insurance Association (www.knia.or.kr)
- Source : Insurance Business Act│Financial Statistical Information System│Life Insurance Association│Non-Life Insurance Association

Why Insurances in Seoul?

  • Digital finance

    Domestic insurance companies can sell combined insurance products such as life insurance, non-life insurance, fire insurance, and auto insurance together.

  • The insurance market is open to foreign financial institutions

    Foreign insurance companies such as AXA, AIG, and Prudential have already entered the Korean insurance market, which is open to foreign companies.

  • Networking opportunities

    Seoul's metropolitan government holds Seoul Financial Week and the Seoul International Financial Conference every year, making network establishment possible within the financial industry.