[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance Co. posted all-time highs until the third and fourth quarters of this year.

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance posted a cumulative net profit of KRW 1.6433 trillion in the third and fourth quarters of this year, while the non-life insurance industry announced its third and fourth quarter earnings on the 14th. This is a 27% increase from the previous year.

Of the pre-tax profits, insurance gains and losses rose 24.0 percent on-year to 1.818 trillion won, while investment gains and losses recorded 383.4 billion won, up 33.2 percent from a year earlier. Long-term insurance has accumulated 1.3 trillion won in insurance gains and losses, up 27.4 percent from a year earlier.

In particular, the growth of contract service margin (CSM), an indicator of insurance companies' future profits, was notable. Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance's total CSM at the end of the third quarter was 13.2593 trillion won. This is an increase of 604.5 billion won from the end of the previous quarter and 1.58 trillion won from the end of last year. Through the launch of new products in the target market and strategic market response centered on portfolio improvement, the new contract CSM was 1.1642 trillion won and the cumulative new contract CSM was 2.6068 trillion won.

The return on investment was 2.95%, up 0.58%p. Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance explained that it is the result of efforts to improve operational efficiency in terms of asset management and responding flexibly to the market. As a result, investment profit rose 17.4% year-on-year to 1.6932 trillion won.

Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance's cumulative net profit in the third and fourth quarters also rose 26.7 percent from the same period last year to 1.3353 trillion won, joining the all-time high. Sales and operating profit rose 11.3 percent and 24.0 percent on-year to 8.2 trillion won and 1.7959 trillion won, respectively, while operating profit and net profit in the third quarter also rose 25.7 percent and 29.2 percent year-on-year to 662.5 billion won and 496.3 billion won, respectively.

 

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