SOUTH KOREAN LIFE INSURERS PROFITS DENTED IN FISCAL Q1

WEAK stock market performance and a lower demand for insurance dented the earnings of South Korea’s life insurers in the first quarter of the fiscal 2008 year. According to the country’s financial watchdog, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the 22 local and foreign life insurers operating in South Korea produced combined net profit of Won577.8bn in the three months between April and June – a fall of 24.7% year-on-year. The figures also revealed that the firms’ return on assets totalled 0.8% in the first quarter, compared with 1.1% a year ago.