April 19, 2024
Finance
Nonlife insurers’ net profit dips in Q3
South Korea’s nonlife insurers suffered a near 28 percent drop in third-quarter earnings due to a rise in their loss ratio, data showed Nov. 19.
The combined net profit of nine nonlife insurance firms came to 502.1 billion won ($431 million) in the July-September period, down 27.8 percent from a year ago, according to the data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service.
The plunge was attributed mainly to a surge in their loss ratio, or the ratio of insurance claims to premiums, for auto insurance and indemnity health insurance, or reimbursement-backed private medical insurance.
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The top three industry players all saw their third-quarter bottom lines shrink at double-digit rates from a year earlier.
Market leader Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance posted a 32.6 percent plunge in net profit to 159.8 billion won, followed by No. 2 player DB Insurance with 19.2 percent and third-largest Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance with 28.3 percent.
Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance was the sole nonlife insurer that saw an improvement in third-quarter earnings. Its net profit rose 5 percent on-year to 76.6 billion won thanks to more earnings from investment activity.
NongHyup Property & Casualty Insurance saw its net loss narrow sharply to 1.8 billion won for the third quarter from a 17.7 billion-won loss a year earlier.
By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)
