Kyobo Life settles claims in 2 hours on average, fastest among life insurers

Kyobo Life said Friday it ranked first among domestic life insurers in claims processing speed during the first half of this year, with an average rapid-payment period of 0.24 days, driven by its AI-based review system.

That is roughly three times faster than the industry average of 0.71 days. Based on an eight-hour business day, the figure translates to an average of about two hours from the time a customer files a claim to when payment is received. The rapid-payment period measures the average time taken for claims settled within three business days of receiving the required documents.

Kyobo Life attributed the faster turnaround to a full digital transformation of its claims payment process. The company said it upgraded its AI automated review model and optical character recognition system for claim documents, and built a framework that triggers payment immediately once a review is complete.

Kyobo Life introduced an AI automated review system for accident insurance claims in 2020 and has since expanded automatic recognition to a wider range of claim documents — including medical certificates and hospitalization, discharge, surgery and outpatient confirmation records — a first in the industry. The machine learning-based AI model assesses the difficulty of each claim and determines whether automated processing is applicable, improving both speed and accuracy.

The company said the initiative reflects the customer-protection philosophy of Kyobo Life Chairman and Chief Executive Shin Chang-jae. Shin has repeatedly said that the essence of life insurance lies in delivering on promised coverage when customers face hardship from illness or accident, helping them overcome adversity. At the "The Race Kyobo Lo-Run" marathon event in April, he said life insurers and financial planners should serve as "pacemakers" who help customers push through difficult times and complete the race of life.

Kyobo Life has also made its payment notifications more detailed. Since June, the company has been sending claims payment alerts that include a breakdown of payouts by coverage item, a summary by treatment type, and an explanation of any excluded items and the reasons for exclusion. Personalized guidance messages, previously sent only to customers receiving cancer or death benefits, have been extended to those receiving diagnosis benefits for brain and cardiovascular conditions, along with health management content to support treatment and recovery.

Support at the claims filing stage continues as well. The "Lifetime Steady Service," launched in 2011 as an industry first, assigns a dedicated financial planner to regularly review a customer's coverage, identify unclaimed benefits and assist with filing. The service handles about 500,000 claims assistance cases a year, averaging 48.5 billion won ($36.6 million) per month. Cumulative users surpassed 2.01 million as of the end of last year.

"Claims payment is the most important moment for fulfilling our promise to customers and the core service that demonstrates the true value of life insurance," a Kyobo Life official said. "We will continue to leverage AI and digital technology to improve the speed and accuracy of claims payment and strengthen the coverage services that customers can feel."

Meanwhile, Kyobo Life also ranked first in the second half of last year with an average rapid-payment period of 0.22 days, according to disclosures by the Korea Life Insurance Association.