Jogeuk Innovation Party Adopts 'Samsung Life Law' as Party Policy... "Evaluate Stock Holdings at Market Value"

The Party for National Innovation has decided to push for the passage of the amendment to the Insurance Business Act, commonly known as the ‘Samsung Life Insurance Act,’ as a party policy. The Samsung Life Insurance Act is a chaebol reform-related bill proposed by the Democratic Party from the 19th to the 21st National Assembly.

Samsung Life Insurance.

On the 18th, the Innovation Party adopted the ‘Samsung Life Insurance Restoration Act (Insurance Business Act Amendment)’ as a party policy at a party members' meeting held at the National Assembly.

Shin Jang-sik, the Innovation Party floor spokesperson, told reporters after the meeting, “This law aims to correctly evaluate the price of Samsung Life Insurance’s shares, which are currently calculated at acquisition cost, at market price,” adding, “We decided as a party policy to normalize the distorted parts of the current law itself and to restore Samsung Life Insurance to normal.”

On the previous day, Assemblyman Cha Gyu-geun of the Innovation Party introduced the amendment to the Insurance Business Act as the main proposer. The amendment focuses on evaluating the value of stocks held by insurance companies in affiliated companies at market price instead of acquisition cost and limiting the holding ratio to 3% of total assets.

The current law regulates the holding limit of stocks in affiliated companies by insurance companies to 3% of total assets but differs in that the asset evaluation standard is based on acquisition cost.

Currently, Samsung Life Insurance holds 8.44% of Samsung Electronics common stock. The acquisition cost is about 540.1 billion KRW, but if the shares are evaluated at market price, based on the closing price of the previous day, it amounts to about 28.2 trillion KRW. If this law passes, Samsung Life Insurance will have to dispose of shares worth more than 18 trillion KRW.

Assemblyman Cha explained the necessity of the amendment, saying, “Only the insurance sector evaluates stocks and other assets at acquisition cost when calculating asset management ratios, which is a special privilege for Samsung and a result of government intervention.”

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