Chairman Kim Seung-youn of Hanwha Group.(Photo:Hanwha Group)

Hanwha Life Insurance Co. killed two birds with one stone recording successful operations in the insurance and investment sectors thus far this year.

According to the insurance industry on Sept. 23, the insurance firm projected its sales to amount to 9.8 trillion won and a net profit of 578 billion won.

The recent concern about the company sustaining losses has turned out to be unfounded, with the insurance firm making 223 billion won in net profit during the second quarter of this year, up 97.5 percent from the same period last year.

The company’s risk-loss rate came to 76.7 percent, the lowest since it was listed on the stock market, saving 121.7 billion won in its risk-loss provision, which is far more than expected even after taking off 135 billion won in profits from the investments in marketable securities.

The insurance firm also did well in asset management. An Kyobo Securities analyst said Hanwha Life Insurance has been considered one of the best insurance firms when it comes to managing its assets, making one of the highest return ratios in the industry. As of the end of March, its assets totaled 94.4 trillion won, while its operational assets came to 72.1 trillion won.

That the U.S. Federal Reserve plans to raise U.S. interest rates is also likely to be good news to Hanwha Life, with most of the assets of life insurance firms in Korea tied up in bonds and financial loans connected with interest rates. So if interest rates go up in the U.S., the insurance firms’ earnings will also go up.

Hanwha Life has also been doing well overseas, with its main operational strategy being to boost its overseas operation. The company was the first insurance firm in Korea to set foot in Vietnam when it expanded there in April 2009, followed by China in December 2012 and Indonesia in October 2013. The company now operates in three foreign countries, the most among life insurance firms in Korea.

Hanwha Life Insurance would like to consolidate its operational strategies overseas in those countries and then map out a strategy for other countries in Asia that it will enter, including Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore, among others.