From Healthcare to MyData... KB Insurance Catches 'Two Rabbits' (Comprehensive)

Achievements in CEO Kim Gihwan's First Year
Obtained Full MyData License
Launched Health Management Service

Kim Ki-hwan, CEO of KB Insurance

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] KB Insurance has succeeded in securing all the newly emerging growth engines in the insurance industry, including healthcare and MyData. This achievement was made in the first year of CEO Kim Ki-hwan's tenure, who emphasized "reviving the industry's No.1 DNA." After several years of stagnation, the company has proven both profitability and growth by reversing its recent performance.

According to the insurance industry on the 15th, KB Insurance obtained the full license for Personal Credit Information Management Business (MyData) from the Financial Services Commission on the 12th. It is the second company to receive this full license after Kyobo Life Insurance, and the first among non-life insurance companies.

The MyData business is a service that collects personal credit information scattered across financial companies into one place and shows it to customers. KB Insurance expects to increase synergy with KB Financial Group affiliates. It already provides services such as insurance subscription information and smart insurance claim services through the bank application for KB Kookmin Bank customers.

KB Insurance plans to build MyData services on its mobile platform, the "KB Insurance Application (app)," aiming to open customer services in the first quarter of next year. Detailed services will include ▲Personal Financial Management (PFM) ▲Open Insurance ▲Healthcare linkage.

In particular, the company plans to expand customer touchpoints by offering services that align with the background of MyData implementation, which returns data sovereignty to customers, such as integrated insurance product coverage analysis tailored to customer perspectives and advanced integrated insurance claim processing across insurers, providing a role as an insurance finance assistant in customers' hands.

KB Healthcare, Specialized Health Management Service for Office Workers

This month, the healthcare service is also set to officially launch. KB Healthcare, a healthcare subsidiary established last month for the first time in the insurance industry, plans to focus on digital health management services through a mobile application and health management services linked with partner companies. To this end, Executive Director Choi Nak-cheon, Head of Digital Strategy, was appointed as the CEO of KB Healthcare.

On the 12th, KB Healthcare also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for comprehensive cooperation in the digital healthcare business sector, including jointly promoting a health management service specialized for office workers with digital healthcare company Huray Positive.

KB Insurance expects that by acquiring healthcare data through its subsidiary, it will be able to actively utilize it in its core business areas such as insurance claim payments, loss ratio management, and health management marketing.

KB Insurance's performance has also continued to grow this year. The cumulative net profit up to the third quarter was 265.6 billion KRW, an increase of 77.2% compared to the same period last year. Although net profit decreased to 61.4 billion KRW in the first quarter compared to the previous year, it rebounded by recording net profits of 79.8 billion KRW and 124.5 billion KRW in the second and third quarters, respectively.

Improved insurance operating profit due to a lower loss ratio in automobile insurance and increased investment operating profit from higher dividend income from investment funds drove the performance increase. After recording an annual net profit of 330 billion KRW in 2017, the company experienced a decline with 189.2 billion KRW in 2018, 160.5 billion KRW in 2019, and 140.6 billion KRW in 2020, but succeeded in rebounding this year.

This is why CEO Kim Ki-hwan, who took office early this year as a "relief pitcher," is evaluated to have achieved results in both business performance and internal organizational management, improving the company's structure.

In his inaugural remarks, CEO Kim promised to "immediately reflect the voices of field and operational staff in management, create an organizational culture where employees who boldly say 'No' to the CEO are more recognized, and take responsibility for failures that occur after intense deliberation and execution, with the CEO leading by example," focusing on reorganizing the organization.

At the 6th anniversary ceremony held in June, CEO Kim also encouraged employees to regain confidence by saying, "Although the business environment is challenging, I hope you will bring out the inherent No.1 DNA within us and boldly challenge to be No.1."

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