Insurance Companies' Shareholders' Meeting Season Opens... No Delays Despite COVID-19
Use of Electronic Voting for General Meeting Quarantine
Appointment of Samsung Life CEO Jeon Yeongmuk
Agenda Including Hyundai Marine & Fire Joint CEOs
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Domestic insurance companies will simultaneously hold their regular general meetings of shareholders from mid-this month to appoint chief executive officers (CEOs) and others. Although there were expectations that the meetings might be postponed due to COVID-19 cluster infections occurring at insurance company call centers and regional branches, most companies have decided to proceed with the meetings as scheduled.
According to the insurance industry on the 13th, starting with Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance and DB Insurance today, insurance company general meetings will continue in a relay until the end of this month. Samsung Life Insurance and Hanwha General Insurance will hold their meetings on the 19th, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, and Heungkuk Fire & Marine Insurance are scheduled for the 20th. Following that, Hanwha Life Insurance will hold theirs on the 23rd, Mirae Asset Life Insurance on the 25th, and Dongyang Life Insurance and Korean Reinsurance Company on the 26th and 27th, respectively.
Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance and DB Insurance each approved the audit report and last year's financial statements at their general meetings held this morning at their headquarters in Gangnam, Seoul. Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance also reappointed outside director Kim Dong-seok, a current professor at KAIST Business School. DB Insurance approved the reappointment of outside directors Kim Sung-guk, former CEO of IBK Credit Information, Lee Seung-woo, former president of the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Choi Jung-ho, former director of the Korean Insurance Academic Society.
In response to concerns about COVID-19, these companies prepared countermeasures for the general meetings. Masks and hand sanitizers were placed at the meeting venues, and disinfection procedures were established. Regarding the meeting proceedings, only the minimum necessary personnel were allowed to attend.
A DB Insurance official said, "We secured the quorum by collecting proxy forms from foreign shareholders and sent notices encouraging active use of electronic voting," adding, "Only a small number of shareholders attended in person."
Other insurance companies also discussed postponing their general meetings due to the spread of COVID-19 but decided to proceed as scheduled. The financial authorities had exempted administrative sanctions for delayed submissions of business reports and other documents due to COVID-19.
However, considering that postponing the meetings could disrupt dividend schedules or cause the expiration of terms for internal and outside directors, the companies decided to proceed according to the original schedule. It was also taken into account that there are no major agenda items for this year's insurance company general meetings.
Only Samsung Life Insurance, Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, and Hanwha General Insurance have agenda items to appoint new CEOs at this year's meetings. Samsung Life Insurance plans to appoint Jeon Young-mook, who was promoted in the January personnel reshuffle of Samsung Group's financial affiliates, as CEO. Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance will appoint Cho Yong-il, president of the general division, and Lee Sung-jae, vice president, as co-CEOs, and Hanwha General Insurance will appoint Kang Sung-soo, vice president, as the new CEO.
Mirae Asset Life Insurance will reappoint Vice Chairman Ha Man-duk and President Byun Jae-sang and appoint four new outside directors. The new outside directors are Lee Kyung-seop, former president of NH Nonghyup Bank; Wi Kyung-woo, professor at Sookmyung Women's University; Kim Hak-ja, lawyer at A-One Law Firm; and Choi Seung-jae, chief lawyer at Choi Law Office.
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Hanwha General Insurance will newly appoint Kim Ju-seong, former head of the Planning and Coordination Office at the National Intelligence Service and former vice chairman of Kolon Group, and Lee Seong-rak, former president of Shinhan Life Insurance and CEO of Gordon & Partners, as outside directors.
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