Meritz Fire's Q1 market share hits 16.2%, up more than 4 percentage points in a year; Hanwha General Insurance crosses 10% threshold for first time; both insurers credit profitability-first and women-focused strategies
Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance and Hanwha General Insurance are drawing attention for expanding their market share in the fiercely competitive protection insurance segment of the non-life insurance industry. Under the new IFRS 17 accounting standard, protection insurance is the primary vehicle for building contractual service margin, or CSM — a key indicator of future profitability. Because policies run long and generate stable cash flows, it is the market non-life insurers compete for most aggressively. The two companies have been carving out their positions through markedly different strategies.
Meritz Fire's first-quarter market share in protection insurance reached 16.2%, rising more than 4 percentage points from a year earlier — the largest gain among major non-life insurers, industry sources said Tuesday.
Hanwha General Insurance posted an 11.21% share, crossing the double-digit threshold the industry had long regarded as a formidable barrier. Its two-year gain of 3.7 percentage points was the steepest in the sector, putting it alongside Meritz Fire as one of the fastest-growing players.
Meritz Fire built its share by prioritizing profitability over new-contract volume. Monthly average sales of protection personal insurance in the first quarter came to 11.4 billion won (about $7.37 million), up 21 percent from the same period last year. By distribution channel, general agencies accounted for the largest share at 56.6 percent, followed by exclusive agents at 31.8 percent and telemarketing at 11.6 percent.
New long-term personal insurance contracts through general agencies grew 30 percent year on year, far outpacing the market average. "The expansion of our general agency channel position is not a temporary windfall — it reflects the results of maintaining our principles, now being validated as the market normalizes," Meritz Fire said. "We believe this trend is sustainable going forward."
Hanwha General Insurance expanded its footprint through products tailored to women and senior customers. By targeting high-value customer segments rather than competing in the crowded mainstream long-term insurance market, the company saw its share of new protection insurance contracts jump 82 percent year on year in the first quarter. Its "Signature Women's Health Insurance 4.0," launched in January, secured the industry's first one-year exclusive-use rights for a pregnancy support rider in the long-term non-life segment, giving the product a differentiated edge that helped the company get ahead of rivals. Riding that momentum, first-quarter CSM grew to 4.2802 trillion won.
The sales channel also contributed. Monthly annualized first-year premiums for protection personal insurance through general agencies reached 14.333 billion won, giving the company a 12.9 percent market share in that channel and placing it fifth in the industry. "We will solidify our differentiation through linked marketing of our flagship women's health insurance and children's insurance products, and pursue both profitability and stable market share through a strategy centered on high-value products," a Hanwha General Insurance official said.
The two companies' market share gains signal a broader shift in protection insurance competition — away from a race for volume and toward profitability and product competitiveness.
In the second half of the year, major regulatory changes are set to take effect, including the transition of certain treatments to managed benefits coverage and the introduction of fifth-generation loss insurance. How well each insurer's differentiation strategy holds up through those changes is expected to reshape the competitive landscape among non-life insurers.
psj@heraldcorp.com
