As the merger between Dongyang Life and ABL Life gains momentum, Woori Financial Group’s insurance business has emerged as a new variable in the race for fifth place among life insurers.
On the 18th, Woori Financial launched integration efforts targeting completion by the second half of next year with Dongyang Life and ABL Life. Following its acquisition of both insurers last July, Woori completed the full subsidiary status of Dongyang Life via a comprehensive share exchange on the 11th of this month. With immediate plans to merge the two insurers, rumors about a potential sale of ABL Life that had raised concerns among some observers have been quelled. Once the merger is finalized, the number of life insurers will be restructured from 22 to 21, prompting industry-wide optimism over the integration.
As of year-end last year, the merged insurer’s assets totaled approximately 55 trillion won, with a contract insurance margin (CSM) of around 3.5 trillion won. Competition is expected with NH Hana Life (4.8 trillion won) and KB Life (3.7 trillion won) for fifth place in the industry.
Most notably, the integrated life insurer’s sales channels are expected to diversify. By combining Woori Bank’s bancassurance capabilities with Dongyang Life’s strength in general agencies (GA) and ABL Life’s aggressive expansion of its exclusive agent organization, significant internal expectations have been raised. Dongyang Life has rapidly expanded guaranteed insurance sales through GA channels over the years. As of the first half of this year, GA channels accounted for approximately 54% of Dongyang Life’s new contract annualized premium equivalent (APE).
ABL Life is recently intensifying efforts to expand its exclusive agent organization. Aiming for 4,000 exclusive agents (FC) by 2027, ABL Life is accelerating the expansion of its exclusive channel. The number of FC channel members was 2,129 at the end of 2024 and has risen to over 2,800 this year. Combined with Dongyang Life, the total number of exclusive agents would reach 4,582, placing them within the top five in the life insurance industry.
Furthermore, while Dongyang Life maintains a high proportion of guaranteed insurance products, ABL Life has a relatively higher share of savings-type products, offering an opportunity to complement the product portfolio according to industry observers. Additionally, leveraging Woori Financial’s customer base could enable acquisition of new customers. Joint investments at the group level and utilization of long-term contract characteristics unique to life insurers are also expected to drive active expansion into new businesses such as nursing care operations and healthcare services, similar to other major life insurers.
Woori Financial’s strategy through this integration is to concentrate group-level capabilities to cultivate the merged insurer as a core subsidiary within the group. The plan aims to secure stable capital adequacy for the integrated insurer while enhancing competitiveness in the insurance market by prioritizing management focused on CSM, which serves as a source of future profits.
Im Jong-yong Woo Ri-geum-yung (Chairman) is scheduled to hold a group chief executive officer (CEO) town hall meeting on the 19th attended by executives and team leaders from both insurers to share the direction and vision for integration.
A life insurance industry official stated, “The merger will result in a larger fifth-place life insurer with expected complementary effects in terms of products and sales organizations.” The official added, “Ultimately, success depends on how much new guaranteed contracts and new CSM can be expanded by leveraging the integrated channels and products.”
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