Insurance profit rises but investment income falls
Gross written premiums up 16.2%
NH Nonghyup Property & Casualty Insurance disclosed Wednesday that its cumulative net profit for the period through the third quarter stood at 95 billion won ($71.7 million), a 22.1% decline — or 26.9 billion won — from 121.9 billion won in the same period last year.
Net profit for the third quarter alone came to 23.3 billion won, down 26.5% from the previous quarter's 31.8 billion won and down 32.1% from 34.4 billion won in the same quarter last year.
The contractual service margin, a key indicator of future profitability, reached 1.72 trillion won at the end of the third quarter, up 7.8%, or 124.6 billion won, from 1.59 trillion won at the end of last year.
Cumulative gross written premiums rose 16.2%, or 619.1 billion won, to 4.44 trillion won, compared with 3.82 trillion won in the same period last year.
Total assets as of the end of September fell 3.8%, or 492.5 billion won, to 12.52 trillion won from 13.01 trillion won a year earlier. The solvency ratio under the Korean Insurance Capital Standard, after transitional measures, stood at an estimated 239.47%, up 66.98 percentage points from 172.49% in the same period last year.
NH Financial Group's cumulative net profit for the period through the third quarter reached 2.53 trillion won, up 11.9% from a year earlier. The insurance segment — comprising NH Nonghyup Life Insurance and NH Nonghyup P&C Insurance — posted net profit of 101.8 billion won, however, a 69.4% drop from 332.8 billion won in the same period last year. The insurance segment's share of group net profit fell from 13.7% to 3.6%.
"Insurance profit increased as the gap between projected and actual claims improved and new contracts expanded," an NH Nonghyup P&C Insurance official said. "However, rising interest rates reduced bond valuation gains, and investment income fell further due to a base effect from bond portfolio restructuring carried out in the prior year."
won@heraldcorp.com
