'CEO Generation Change' at Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance... Announces Aggressive Sales for '3% Growth'

Sales Target of 13.7725 Trillion Won Presented
Highest Figure in 3 Years Shows 'Ambition'

Joyongil and Lee Seongjae Lead Dual-Top System
Take Command After General Meeting on 20th

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, which chose a 'generation change of the CEO,' has set a goal of '3% growth' this year and announced aggressive sales plans. Although the insurance industry is sluggish and the loss ratios of its core business sectors, automobile insurance and indemnity medical insurance, are declining, the company plans to lay the groundwork for growth amid the crisis.

According to the insurance industry on the 4th, Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance presented a sales target (gross written premium) of 13.7725 trillion won in its governance annual report released at the end of last month. This is a 3.0% increase compared to the previous year's target of 13.3626 trillion won, marking the highest figure in the past three years.

Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance set a target of 13.002 trillion won in 2018 but recorded sales of 12.9783 trillion won that year. Last year, it achieved sales of 13.4174 trillion won, slightly exceeding the target.

This year, the net business expenses are also budgeted at 2.6399 trillion won, a 3.2% increase from 2.5573 trillion won last year. Since business expenses are directly linked to performance, this is interpreted as a commitment to achieving results.

The management policy for this year was also set to pursue solid growth based on profits to overcome the difficult management environment, including the slowdown in the domestic insurance industry's growth and deteriorating profitability, and to lead the market by strengthening sales competitiveness.

In particular, the company plans to actively respond to digital transformation and secure future growth engines. Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance showed its determination to recover performance through a swift organizational restructuring since the end of last year. In November last year, it upgraded the Digital Strategy Department to the Digital Strategy Headquarters to emphasize strengthening digital capabilities.

To pursue solid growth, the company will also focus on managing loss ratios. In fact, Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance's loss ratio was 85.2% in the first quarter of last year, increasing to 86.3% in the second quarter and 87.7% in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, it surged to 90.2%.

The company also plans to focus on crisis management for automobile insurance and indemnity insurance. Last year, Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance's combined ratio for automobile insurance was 110%, up 5.2 percentage points from 104.8% the previous year. The combined ratio is the sum of the loss ratio and expense ratio, and exceeding 100% means that losses and expenses exceed premium income. The risk loss ratio for long-term insurance such as indemnity also worsened by 8.1 percentage points to 96.7% from 88.5% the previous year.

At the shareholders' meeting on the 20th, the newly appointed CEO, President Jo Yong-il, and Vice President Lee Sung-jae will face the challenge of capturing both 'solid performance and growth.'

Under the new co-CEO system, President Jo will be in charge of overall sales strategy formulation and channel-specific strategic planning, while Vice President Lee is expected to handle management planning, including the introduction of digital new technologies and pioneering overseas new business markets to establish a mid- to long-term growth foundation.

A Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance official said, "Although a difficult management environment is expected to continue this year, there are positive aspects such as reduced market competition due to commission declines since the end of last year," adding, "While the loss ratio for long-term insurance is expected to rise compared to last year, increasing high-quality coverage such as death benefits and the effect of increased earned premiums in automobile insurance will lower the loss ratio, improving the operating deficit."

Jo Yong-il, President of Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Photo by Yonhap News

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.