Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance Co. posted 840.9 billion won in net profit for 2016, an increase of 7.4 percent year-on-year, and for the first time the company’s annual net profit surpassed 800 billion won, the company said on March 15. In announcing its 2016 performance results, the non-life insurance company said its sales reached 18.183 trillion won, up 2.2 percent year-on-year, with operating profit standing at 1.120 trillion won, up 4.6 percent year-on-year.

Auto insurance premiums collected led all other business sectors, up 13.4 percent due mostly to the wide use of the Internet for non-life insurance dealings. Other sectors such as long-term insurance fell 1 percent due to a contraction in savings-type insurance sales, which fell 1 percent. General-type insurance also fell 4.3 percent, the company said, with sales of cancer insurance down as much as 4.3 percent year-on-year.

The company also announced that it will do its best to prepare for the introduction of the “Taepyeongsamdae,” or products insuring against three diseases connected to cancer, the brain and veins. They have caused the most deaths in Korea over a period of time, and new insurance products will address those risks for policyholders, from the diagnosis stage, treatment, disability and death. There are virtually no age limits for insurers of this new non-life insurance product, as anyone from 15 years of age to over 100 can access the insurance product.

A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A++ (Superior) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “aa+” of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd. Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the FSR of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term ICR of “a” of SFM’s wholly owned subsidiary, Samsung Reinsurance Pte. Ltd. (SRE) (Singapore). 

A.M. Best also has affirmed the FSR of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term ICRs of “a-” of SFM’s subsidiaries, Samsung Vina Insurance Co., Ltd. (SVI) (Vietnam) and PT. Asuransi Samsung Tugu (AST) (Indonesia). 

The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. The affirmations of the FSR and the Long-Term ICR of SFM reflect its performance and business profile. 

SFM’s risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio, remained at a very strong level in fiscal-year 2015. Capital and surplus growth, very strong risk-adjusted capitalization, and favorable operating driven by profit retention, offset additional capital requirements related to net premium growth and an increase in investment risk over the same year.

SFM has retained the largest market share in South Korea’s domestic non-life insurance market while maintaining a favorable and stable operating performance. In long-term insurance, which is the company’s largest business line, the proportion of profitable protection-type products increased in 2015. Concurrently, the persistency ratio of protection-type products continued to improve over the same year. 

SFM’s underwriting profitability particularly has improved in the auto line of business, reflecting the company’s initiatives to optimize customer segmentation, based on its large database, and to actively adjust premium rates accordingly.

A view of the Samsung Town in Seocho, Seoul where Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance is located. (Photo: Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance)