Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. has retained its top position in South Korea’s nonlife insurance industry for fiscal year 2011, but the gap of its market share compared with its main rival has been narrowed, sources showed Tuesday.
According to industry sources, Samsung Fire’s cumulative original premium stood at 12.0 trillion won ($10.7 billion) in the April 2011-January 2012 period, accounting for 26.5 percent of the market. No. 2 player Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Co.’s original premium reached 7.53 trillion won, for a market share of 16.5 percent.
Original premium refers to the total amount of insurance premiums collected from policyholders, and its proportion in the market is considered as the firm’s market share.
However, Samsung Fire’s original premium rate shrank 0.4 percentage points during the cited period from a year ago, while Hyundai Marine expanded 0.4 percentage points on-year, causing the gap between the top two players to narrow to 10 percentage points.
Samsung Fire struggled last year with its net profit rising a mere 16.5 percent to 568.5 billion won, compared with a 146 percent surge to 305.4 billion won for Hyundai Marine.
Smaller firms, meanwhile, have been trying to catch up with big players. Dongbu Insurance Co. saw a 1.2 percentage-point increase in its market share to 16.2 percent, with that of LIG Insurance Co. rising 0.5 percentage points to 14.4 percent in the one year period, according to local sources. (Yonhap News)
