Shinhan Life Insurance CEO Sung Dae-kyu. (Photo: Shinhan Life Insurance)

Sung Dae-kyu has been tapped as head of integrated Shinhan Life Insurance, the combination of Shinhan Life Insurance and Orange Life.

Sung is set to take office as CEO of Shinhan Life Insurance in July 2021.

The Shinhan Financial Group’s Subsidiary Management Committee made the decision in a meeting at the group’s headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul on Dec. 17.

“We have decided to appoint Sung as the first CEO of integrated Shinhan Life Insurance,” said an official of the Subsidiary Management Committee.

“Shinhan Life Insurance and Orange Life will build a one-firm system and take the lead in completing successful integration starting in 2021.”

Sung is a talented insurance industry expert who has served as a government official in charge of the financial industry, a financial researcher and the CEO of a private life insurance company.

Sung has advanced Shinhan Life Insurance’s sales systems and corporate culture with a strong determination since his inauguration as CEO in 2019, and suggested various opinions on mid-to long-term development plans for the integrated insurance company, the Subsidiary Management Committee said.

“In 2021, we should invest all of Shinhan Life Insurance’s resources and capabilities in successfully launching integrated Shinhan Life Insurance,” Sung said in his New Year’s message to employees, stressing the importance of the integration work.

“We should clearly recognize that integrated Shinhan Life Insurance is a totally new company born out of a marriage between the two companies while carrying out future-oriented integration work,” Sung added “All employees should create new value through sufficient dialogues and communications.”

As Sung said, 2021 is a very important year for both Shinhan Life Insurance and Orange Life Insurance. This is because the two life insurers are scheduled to merge on July 1, this year.

Integrated Shinhan Life Insurance will become the fourth-largest life insurer in Korea.

The two life insurers’ total assets stood at 70 trillion won as of September 2020. The integrated company will be preceded by Samsung Life Insurance, Hanwha Life Insurance and Kyobo Life Insurance only.

Therefore, Sung, tasked with the completion of the merger, is expected to focus on making a stable start by designing the structure of Shinhan Life Insurance and setting up business models for the rest of the time.

Industry insiders also expect Shinhan Life Insurance and Orange Life about to merge to accelerate their changes. This is because the confirmation of the CEOs of the two companies cleared uncertainties in 2020.

Shinhan Life Insurance and Orange Life Insurance have been preparing for the merger since July 2020 by promoting exchanges in various ways.

A case in point is the exchange of about 40 employees in charge of marketing and consumer protection.

In addition, at the end of December, when the first CEO of integrated Shinhan Life Insurance was tapped, both Shinhan Life Insurance and Orange Life Insurance signaled major changes, announcing executive shakeups.

They have been putting in place the integration of IT systems for product sales and sales management at home and abroad.

The two companies will attempt to reorganize their overlapping departments and human resources, analysts forecast. In the long run, it is also a task to coordinate different wage, position and job rank and welfare systems among others.

At the same time, Sung is also putting a lot of efforts in developing the healthcare business as a new growth engine.

As part of that, Shinhan Life Insurance has collected ideas about InsurTech by setting up an experience space for employees and recently released a beta version of its artificial intelligence-based home training service “How-FIT.”

The company will penetrate related markets by continuously developing contents and upgrading services after the official launch of How-FIT.

Sung is eyeing the creation of a virtuous cycle-based ecosystem in the healthcare sector, going beyond the limits of the current insurance industry based on this.

“We need to make Shinhan Life Insurance, a top-tier company full of energy and courage,” CEO Sung said.

“We will also make our company an agile company that can quickly respond to environmental changes based on digital technology and systems.”