Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, the insurance siblings of the Samsung Group, recorded their best-ever results for the first half of the year.
However, performance in their core insurance business showed mixed results. Samsung Life Insurance saw its investment gains drive overall profit growth, but its insurance underwriting results were weaker than expected due to one-time factors. In contrast, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance recorded strong results in both insurance underwriting and investment gains and losses.
According to the insurance industry on the 13th, Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance reported a combined net profit attributable to controlling shareholders of 3 trillion 265.8 billion won for the first half of this year. Samsung Life Insurance's net profit for the first half reached 1 trillion 893.5 billion won, up 35.8% from the same period last year, while Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance posted 1 trillion 372.3 billion won, an increase of 10.2%.
Both companies achieved their highest-ever net profits on a first-half basis. Their combined net profit attributable to controlling shareholders exceeded the 2nd trillion 402.9 billion won reported by Hanjin Financial Group for the same period this year by 862.9 billion won. In 2023, the gap between them was 168.4 billion won.
Investment gains and losses showed significant growth at both Samsung Life and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance. Samsung Life Insurance's investment gains and losses for the first half reached 1 trillion 858 billion won, an 82.0% increase from the same period last year. This figure includes a one-time reversal of reserves amounting to 425.7 billion won; even excluding this item, the growth rate still reached 40.3%. Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance's investment gains and losses totaled 788 billion won, up 22.0% from the same period last year.
Insurance underwriting results were mixed. Samsung Life Insurance's insurance service profit was 533 billion won, a 35.9% decrease from the same period last year. This decline was influenced by one-time costs such as 52.6 billion won in retirement benefit reserves and a 30 billion won increase in labor costs. Even excluding these items, insurance underwriting profit stood at 615.7 billion won, down 25.9% from the same period last year.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance's insurance underwriting profit reached 1 trillion 114.5 billion won, up 10.9% from the same period last year. This improvement was driven by a decrease in large-scale accidents, which lowered the general insurance loss ratio from 62.9% to 56.9%, a drop of 6.0 percentage points.
Meanwhile, DB Insurance reported a net profit attributable to controlling shareholders of 979.6 billion won for the first half of this year, an 8.0% increase from the same period last year. Insurance underwriting profit was 788.4 billion won, and investment gains and losses totaled 638.2 billion won, representing increases of 17.6% and 8.4%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
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