The combined net profit of insurance companies operating in South Korea reached KRW7.63tn ($6.4bn) in the January-September period, up by 37.3% from a year earlier. South Korean insurance companies’ earnings jumped more than 37% in the first nine months of this year amid the coronavirus pandemic and a bullish stock market. Life insurers saw their combined net profit jump by 17.8% year-on-year to KRW3.69tn for the first nine months of the year. The FSS attributes the profit increase among life insurance companies to increased income from the bullish stock market and rising interest rates.
Non-life insurers reported a 62.6% spike in combined net profit to KRW3.94tn. The earnings rose sharply as the loss ratio for auto insurance in the first nine months of this year was lower than a year earlier in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Life insurance firms’ premium income went up 0.9% on-year to KRW82.24tn, while that of non-life insurers increased by 3.5% to KRW73.39tn.