Korea Insurance Agency Association analyzes large GA disclosures for first half of 2026
Agent headcount up 13% while new contracts fall 7.7%
Policy retention and mis-selling rates improve
The number of agents affiliated with large general agencies, or GAs, exceeded 280,000 for the first time as firms raced to recruit ahead of the so-called "1200% rule," but new contracts written during the same period fell by nearly 750,000 cases — pushing the per-agent contract count down from 39 to 32. Organizations grew larger, yet the expanded workforce did not translate into stronger sales performance.
According to a first-half 2026 large GA disclosure analysis released Thursday by the Korea Insurance Agency Association, the number of large GAs — those with 500 or more affiliated agents — stood at 73 as of the end of June, up one from a year earlier. The total number of affiliated agents reached 281,580, an increase of 32,491, or 13 percent, over the same period.
The 1200% rule limits first-year recruitment commissions for GA-affiliated agents to no more than 12 times the monthly premium and took effect in July. Throughout the first half of the year, insurers competed intensely to bring on agents before settlement support payments were included in the cap.
New contracts, however, fell to about 8.962 million cases, down about 748,000 cases, or 7.7 percent, from about 9.71 million cases a year earlier. Life insurance new contracts edged down slightly, from about 2.507 million to about 2.505 million cases. Non-life insurance contracts dropped 10.4 percent, from about 7.203 million to about 6.457 million cases. Particularly hard hit were long-term non-life insurance new contracts, which fell by about 756,000 cases — from about 4.47 million to about 3.714 million. As a result, new contracts per registered agent declined by seven cases, or 17.9 percent, from 39 to 32.
New contract value, measured by first-premium income, rose 17.3 percent to 3.62 trillion won ($2.7 billion). Life insurance led the growth, surging 61.5 percent from 808.2 billion won to 1.31 trillion won. Within that segment, endowment insurance more than doubled, climbing from 295.4 billion won to 643.6 billion won. Non-life insurance grew just 1.6 percent, from 2.28 trillion won to 2.31 trillion won. New contract value per registered agent rose 3.7 percent, from 12.39 million won to 12.85 million won.
Total commission income for large GAs reached 10.45 trillion won, up 1.47 trillion won, or 16.4 percent, from 8.98 trillion won in the same period a year ago. Life insurance commissions rose 24.8 percent to 5.73 trillion won, while non-life commissions grew 7.5 percent to 4.72 trillion won.
Sales quality indicators improved. The mis-selling rate fell 0.004 percentage points, from 0.027 percent to 0.023 percent. Life insurance mis-selling dropped from 0.050 percent to 0.046 percent, and non-life from 0.013 percent to 0.010 percent.
Policy retention rates also broadly improved. The 13th-payment retention rate rose from 87.81 percent to 88.15 percent, and the 25th-payment rate climbed from 72.16 percent to 75.85 percent. The 37th-payment rate rose 6.23 percentage points, from 55.31 percent to 61.54 percent. However, the non-life 37th-payment retention rate edged down 0.47 percentage points, from 60.72 percent to 60.25 percent.
The association said large GAs are "laying the groundwork to develop into a new insurance sales channel through external growth and improvements in sales soundness," adding that "as a commission disbursement reform takes hold and a long-term policy management-centered sales system becomes established, contract retention quality will improve further." It also said it plans to strengthen the education and certification system for consumer-protection-certified agents and to expand industry consultation and policy cooperation toward introducing a dedicated insurance sales company regime.
won@heraldcorp.com
