As of April 23, financial industry officials said Kyobo Lifeplanet has posted cumulative net losses of 219.2 billion won from its 2013 launch through last year, reflecting annual losses of more than 10 billion won.
Kyobo Life Chairman Shin Chang-jae in 2020 put his second son in charge of Lifeplanet’s digital business, but results did not improve and losses grew. Net loss was 13.1 billion won in 2020, when Shin Jung-hyun joined as head of the digital strategy office, and expanded into the 20 billion won range from 2023. It was the first time in eight years that losses returned to the 20 billion won level, last seen in 2015 (-21.1 billion won).
Industry officials said it would be difficult to place full responsibility on Shin, but added that digital strategy is critical because Lifeplanet sells products only through online channels without agents. From product planning and marketing to conversion-rate management, user experience design and data-based risk management, the process runs on a digital platform, making the executive overseeing it hard to separate from the outcome.
Growth indicators also weakened. Lifeplanet’s new policy amount last year was 1.4086 trillion won, down 9.7% from 1.5606 trillion won a year earlier. Among 22 life insurers, only Chubb Life Insurance Korea, which focuses on dental insurance, had a smaller new policy amount at 312.9 billion won. As of the end of last year, Lifeplanet’s cumulative in-force policy amount stood at 7.7347 trillion won, or 0.3% of the combined total of 2,308 trillion won for the 22 companies.
Against that backdrop, Kyobo Life has faced criticism for repeatedly injecting billions of won into what some described as a “bottomless pit.” While early losses can be expected in digital insurance, industry assessments said more than a decade of accumulated losses and the recent widening trend are difficult to dismiss as routine growing pains.
A life insurance industry official said, “Internet insurance can be viewed as an investment for the future, but with losses expanding, important decisions by management will be needed.”
Shin moved to SBI Savings Bank without closing out a turnaround at Lifeplanet. He will remain at Lifeplanet as an adviser and lead the synergy team under the newly created management strategy division at SBI Savings Bank. A plan to appoint him as one of SBI Savings Bank’s co-CEOs was reportedly considered, but he ultimately took a team leader-level role.
SBI Savings Bank is viewed as a key pillar in Kyobo Life’s strategy to expand beyond insurance and combine lending-based businesses with digital finance capabilities. Some business circles interpreted the decision to place Shin in another major post as also reflecting succession considerations.
A business group official said, “Kyobo Life will use SBI Savings Bank as a foothold to lay out its plan for a shift to a financial holding company,” adding, “Moving an owner’s child who did not deliver results at the previous affiliate to a core unit appears to go beyond management training and to take succession into account.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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