Fierce Battle for Exclusive Agents Heats Up... Insurance Company CEO Orders "100 Hires Per Month"

Competition for Talent Heats Up Ahead of July GA '1,200% Rule' Implementation
Securing Agent Expertise Becomes Crucial to Strengthen Sales Power in Third Insurance Products

Competition among insurance companies to secure exclusive agents is intensifying. As the third insurance sector (including health, accident, and long-term care insurance), which is considered a future growth engine, is emerging as a "high-difficulty product" that requires more sophisticated design than auto insurance, the expertise of insurance planners is now directly linked to a company's sales competitiveness. In particular, starting in July, the so-called "1,200% rule," which regulates agent commissions, will also apply to corporate insurance agencies (GAs). As a result, insurers are making all-out efforts to directly nurture their own pool of outstanding exclusive agents.

Tongyang Life Insurance Raises Target from ‘100 per Year’ to ‘100 per Month’

According to the insurance industry on April 14, Sung Daekyu, President and CEO of Tongyang Life Insurance, recently presented an aggressive goal at a regular general meeting of shareholders: "We will secure 100 exclusive planners every month." Compared to the past three years, when the company increased its agent pool by around 100 per year, this plan represents a twelvefold expansion in recruitment and a strong commitment to maximizing sales capabilities.

Currently, Tongyang Life Insurance relies heavily on the GA channel, with sales through this channel accounting for over 50% of its total. In response, President Sung has shifted the company's strategy by expanding the sales headquarters for exclusive planners (FC) and strengthening the exclusive channel. Notably, instead of recruiting experienced agents from competitors, the company insists on directly nurturing new talent. This approach follows financial authorities' recommendations to prevent market disorder caused by excessive poaching and also reflects a determination to address key challenges—such as strengthening the non-banking portfolio and improving profitability after joining Woori Financial Group—through fundamental, direct strategies.

An official in the life insurance industry commented, "For an organization that used to secure 100 agents a year, hiring 100 agents every month is extremely challenging," and added, "They will need to mobilize all available human resources, including not only new recruits but also dormant agents."

GA 1,200% Rule Intensifies Competition

The trend of insurance companies investing heavily in nurturing exclusive agents is spreading across the industry. According to the Financial Supervisory Service's Financial Statistics Information System, the number of exclusive agents in the industry surged from 162,142 in 2023 to 184,118 in 2024, and reached 215,009 last year (2025). The growth rates were 8.3% in 2023 and 13.6% in 2024. In particular, last year’s growth rate reached 52.1%, which coincided with the announcement that the commission regulation known as the "1,200% rule" would be extended to GAs.

Set to apply to GAs starting in July, the 1,200% rule is a system that limits the first-year commission paid to agents to within 12 times the monthly premium. As GAs began scrambling to secure top planners ahead of the system’s implementation, primary insurers also responded by expanding their own exclusive channels and focusing on cultivating highly loyal talent. An industry official explained, "Due to the stricter GA commission regulation policy coming into effect in July, competition to secure agents has grown fiercer—not only among GAs but also among primary insurers."

Increasing Professional Planners Is Essential for the Fundamental Survival Strategy of Targeting the Third Insurance Sector

Within the industry, the expansion of exclusive agents is seen as a 'survival strategy' that goes beyond simply responding to regulations. Fifth-generation indemnity health insurance and the third insurance sector—covering disease, accident, and long-term care—are structurally complex, so the proficiency of planners has a decisive impact on both contract sign-ups and retention rates. This is why primary insurers like Tongyang Life Insurance are proactively hiring even unlicensed personnel and providing them with direct training.

An industry official noted, "Third insurance policies tend to have higher premiums and more complex structures, making them products that customers prefer to discuss face-to-face rather than online. As a result, more companies are using exclusive channels to provide personalized planning and close management, aiming to simultaneously attract new customers and retain existing contracts."

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