Insurance CEOs Born in the 70s Leading Innovation... Mixed Results

Jung Young-ho Carrot Insurance
Chairman of the Board for 3 Consecutive Years

Lee Jae-won Fubon Hyundai
15% Net Profit Growth

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] The fortunes of CEOs born in the 1970s, who made a surprising appearance in the insurance industry dominated by long-serving CEOs, are diverging. While they have led innovation by emphasizing a digitally friendly youthful sensibility and brought new changes to insurance, there are also evaluations that much remains to be done.

According to the insurance industry on the 29th, Jung Young-ho, CEO of Carrot General Insurance, was recently appointed chairman of the board for the third consecutive year at a board meeting.

Having served as both CEO and chairman of the board over the past two years, he is recognized for his deep understanding of the company and expertise in the digital transformation of the non-life insurance and financial industries.

Born in 1972, CEO Jung previously held positions such as Executive Director of Management Planning at Hanwha Group, Head of Strategic Innovation at Hanwha General Insurance, and Head of Communications at Hanwha. After being appointed CEO of Carrot General Insurance last year, he successfully established the company as a digital-specialized non-life insurer.

Following the pay-per-mile auto insurance, he consecutively introduced innovative products such as the 'on-off' style pet walking insurance and leisure accident insurance. In particular, the pay-per-mile insurance achieved a milestone by surpassing 120,000 subscribers within one year of its launch in a car insurance market dominated by large non-life insurers.

Carrot General Insurance plans to launch the '2nd generation' Carrot Plug, which features an AI-based safe driving counseling system called Pay-Per-Mile Members based on a mileage measurement system, a data-driven automatic accident detection function, and enhanced vehicle movement detection sensors.

However, the management performance is disappointing. Last year, the company recorded a net loss of 38.1 billion KRW. This marks two consecutive years of losses following its inaugural year in 2019. This is interpreted as a result of slow revenue growth due to low premiums and the impact of initial investment costs.

Lee Jae-won, CEO of Fubon Hyundai Life Insurance, born in 1972, recorded strong performance last year. The company posted a net profit of 95.1 billion KRW, a 15.8% increase compared to the previous year. It also benefited from the solid support of its largest shareholder, Taiwan's Fubon Life Insurance. Fubon Life plans to invest an additional 458 billion KRW in Fubon Hyundai Life through a paid-in capital increase.

Fubon Hyundai, based on Hyundai Motor Group's retirement pension, solidified its bancassurance channel business foundation last year and has been expanding its reach this year into telemarketing (TM) and financial planner (FP) channels. Re-entry into the general agency (GA) channel is also under consideration.

CEO Lee graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Business Administration. He has worked at KB Life, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, and ING Life (now Orange Life), and has been with Fubon Hyundai since 2014. He was rapidly promoted from executive director to president in 2018.

Another 1970s-born CEO who had attracted attention, Choi Won-jin, CEO of Lotte General Insurance, recently stepped down and returned to JKL Partners. Industry views suggest he resigned taking responsibility for large-scale asset impairments and a decline in the RBC ratio.

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