South Korea's insurers say they have to charge higher premiums on products sold over insurance comparison platforms than on those sold through the insurers' own cyber marketing channels, such as their websites.
The newly introduced accounting standard, IFRS 17, plays a significant part in stalling the sales of insurance firms this year, according to market watchers.
KB Insurance (KBI) saw its underwriting profitability improve materially in 2022, mainly driven by favourable long-term line performance as a result of a decreased medical indemnity loss ratio due to several rounds of rate hikes and stabilised medical claims, notes AM Best.
Digital insurance companies in South Korea are expecting significant changes to the market environment in the wake of the commencement of the Insurance Product Comparison and Recommendation Service.
The solvency ratio of Korean insurers increased from 218.9% to 223.6% in 2Q2023, notes CreditSights, which is part of the Fitch group. This ratio is more than double the minimum required ratio of 100%.
The South Korean authorities are planning to streamline procedures for insurance companies acquiring foreign subsidiaries.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has introduced a set of proposed measures that will help bring about improvements to pet insurance services, the regulator announced jointly with the relevant government ministries.
The non-life insurance market in South Korea has been demonstrating resilience over the last few years, and its premium volume is expected to grow by 4.4% to KRW125.4tn ($92.5bn) in 2023, according to a blog posted on the website of Korean Re.
General savings insurance premiums in South Korea are expected to fall by 25% mostly due to the base effect from the surprisingly high growth in 2022, according to a blog posted on the website of Korean Re.