FOREIGN INSURERS INCREASE MARKET SHARE IN KOREA

Foreign life insurers are taking an increasingly bigger share of the Korean insurance market according to figures released by the Korean Life Insurance Association. By the end of July 2006, this figure surpassed 20% for the first time to 20.2%, almost 5% greater than last year’s total of 15.6% and a marked increase on the 2000 figure of 5.7%. This expansion has come at the expense of the three largest domestic life insurers – Samsung Life, Korea Life and Kyobo Life who saw their market share fall from 79.9% to 63.3% in the space of a year. Of the trio, Samsung was the biggest loser, shedding almost 10% of its market share, followed by Kyobo Life which dropped almost 6%. Of the foreign insurers, the biggest gains were made by Holland-based ING Life which increased its share from 0.9% to 5.7%, and US-based AIG Life, which increased from 0.1% to 3.1%. The growth of foreign insurers’ market share has been attributed in part to the introduction of bancassurance products in 2003, half of which are now sold by foreign insurers, and the popularity of variable insurance products – a market sector in which foreign insurers have a 28.1% share.