'New Samsung' Financial Affiliates Also Undergo Generational Change... Hong Won-hak Appointed at Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance

Accelerating Preparation for Future Food Sources
Big Tech and Digital Transformation as Challenges

Hong Won-hak, Candidate for CEO of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance has appointed Hong Won-hak, Vice President of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, as its next CEO. Following Samsung Electronics, the 'New Samsung' policy has extended changes to financial affiliates.

On the morning of the 10th, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance held a nomination committee meeting and officially recommended Vice President Hong as the final candidate for CEO. Hong is expected to be formally appointed as CEO at the regular shareholders' meeting next year.

Born in 1964, Vice President Hong graduated from Korea University with a degree in Japanese Language and Literature and joined Samsung Life Insurance in 1990. He has held key positions including Head of HR, Head of Specialized Sales Division, Head of Strategic Sales Division, and Head of FC Sales Division 1. At the end of last year, he moved from Samsung Life Insurance to Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, where he served as Head of the Auto Insurance Division.

Vice President Hong is expected to accelerate preparations for future growth engines amid Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance's record-breaking performance for the second consecutive year.

Up to the third quarter of this year, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance has posted cumulative gross written premiums and net income of 14.7291 trillion KRW and 1.022 trillion KRW, respectively, marking increases of 0.1% and 62.5% compared to the same period last year. The combined ratio (loss ratio + expense ratio), which measures insurance operational efficiency, improved by 2.7 percentage points from the previous year to 101.5%, due to decreases in loss ratios for general and auto insurance.

In particular, despite stable loss ratios centered on auto insurance due to reduced traffic volumes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the company faces challenges such as digital transformation and the entry of big tech companies into the insurance market. With digital non-life insurers backed by large platforms emerging as new competitors, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance must defend its long-held position as the industry leader in market share.

At a corporate briefing last month, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance stated, "We expect a three-way competition among existing insurers, newly entering digital specialists, and big fintech companies with vast customer bases and technological capabilities." It cautiously forecasted that Kakao, Naver, and Toss would be key competitors.

Recently, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance launched a new direct brand called ‘Chak’ to strengthen its digital capabilities and is preparing to utilize customers' driving habit data within auto insurance and to enter the healthcare sector.

Choi Young-moo, CEO of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, who successfully renewed his term earlier this year, was initially expected to continue, but amid growing generational change within the group, he reportedly expressed his intention to step down for the sake of younger successors. Meanwhile, Jeon Young-mook, CEO of Samsung Life Insurance who took office in March last year, was retained in this personnel reshuffle.

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