Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance Co. has rapidly shifted its strategy from tight internal management to policies for expanding its market share due to Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s concern for its falling market share in recent years. 

According to financial authorities and industry sources, Samsung Fire has undergone an organizational reform and personnel shake up among officers and staff below the director level in a bid to strengthen its marketing capacity.

Among the personnel and organizational reform moves, the management control team has been switched to the management support team and the name of the operational competitive power strengthening team has been changed to the operational power competitive development team, while the operational education planning team has been changed to the recruit support team. 

The fact that the operational education planning team’s name has been changed to the recruiting support team means that the company wants to focus on strengthening its operations units by expanding them. The company is said to also have all staff belonging to the operation teams to report to work earlier than usual under its emergency operation strategies to strengthen its operation teams’ performances.

Changing the name to the recruiting support team means that the company wants to expand the operation organization in the future in order to improve its performances by expanding its market share as instructed by Group Chairman Lee, industry sources said.

Actually, the company has taken steps to strengthen its marketing units across the country by promoting those belonging to the frontier teams within their regions of operations.

“As Samsung Fire & Marine marks the 60th anniversary of its establishment this year, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all our customers and shareholders for the support and encouragement rendered to us thus far,” Chairman Lee said.

“Since its inception in 1952, Samsung Fire strived to position itself as the top non-life insurer in Korea. The company has ranked first in the industry in the National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI) for 11 consecutive years, and A.M.Best, a credit-rating agency, recently awarded it the highest rating of A++ (Superior), a first for any Korean company.

“Samsung Fire believes all of these accomplishments were made possible with the confidence and support of all our stakeholders,” Lee said. “The company aspires to become the best financial institution boasting a client-oriented attitude as well as the best financial soundness in the 21st century.”

The company was incorporated on Jan. 26, 1952, under the name Korea Anbo Fire Marine Reinsurance Co., and was renamed Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd. in December 1993.

As the biggest domestic non-life insurance company in Korea in terms of size, financial structure, and management, Samsung Fire has offices in the United States, Europe, and Asian countries such as China, Indonesia, Japan, and Vietnam. The company is expanding its operational network in cooperation with top foreign insurance companies and continues to grow toward becoming a world-class financial institution providing various services.

Samsung Fire boasts total assets of 21.704 trillion won as of November 2008 and a solvency ratio of 337.2 percent. The company vows to enhance client satisfaction and shareholder value by developing competitiveness through the introduction of advanced financial technologies, reinforcement of product development capabilities, innovation of insurance marketing skills, development of underwriting techniques, professionalization of all directors and employees, and implementation of effective compensation systems.