Samsung Life Expands Operation in China

The largest Korean life insurer opens branch in Qingdao and Tianjin thru Samsung Air China Life Insurance Co.

Samsung Life Insurance Co. through its subsidiary the Samsung Air China Life Insurance Co. Ltd., opened its local subsidiary in Qingdao, Shandong Province, in China in line with its plan to expand its operations in China and opened for business in a ceremony on July 16 with a slew of dignitaries both local and from Korea led by President Lee Soo-chang and deputy Mayor of Qingdao Chin Min in attendance.
The Qingdao branch is the third one for Samsung Life in China after Beijing and Tianjin, which opened in July 2005 and March, 2009 respectively.
President Lee, in his congratulatory speech, said the new branch will do its best to guarantee its customers’ financial safety through its healthy growth and do all of its social responsibility as an insurer and at the same time do its best to be a business office loved by its Chinese customers.
Qingdao is located so close to Korea that many shipping firms operated ferry services to Incheon from Weihai, the port city near Qingdao. Shandong Province has the largest trade with Korea among Chinese provinces with some 10,000 Korean business firms operating in the province.
Samsung Life has been allowed to sell its insurance products to Chinese customers through its subsidiary in China.
Samsung Air China LIfe Insurance Co. was set up in July, 2005 in joint venture with Air China on 50:50 basis and its operations have been expanding year after year since its opening. The joint venture company’s sales skyrocketed to 45.9 billion won in 2009 from just 7.4 billion won in 2007. Insurance premium receipts rose sharply during the period also from 6.8 billion won in 2007 to 40.5 billion won in 2009.
China’s insurance premiums collected in 2009 totaled $163 billion ranked the 7th in the world, while that for Korea came to $92 billion standing in the 10th largest in the world.
Samsung Life pushed its plan to set up overseas subsidiaries in earnest from the 1990s as part of its strategy to find new growth engines overseas and diversify its revenue sources as domestic life insurance market is too crowded.
The company now has two local subsidiaries in China and Thailand and two investment subsidiaries, one each in the United States and Britain. The company owns 100 percent stakes in its U.S. and British subsidiaries, while owning parts of the subsidiaries in Thailand and China in partnership with local investors.
Siam Samsung, set up in 1997, with $12.5 million in capital has been considered to have been a great success through intensive localization management policies with the local firm turning a profit in 2005. Its sales amounted to 27.4 billion won in local currency in 2007 and 34 billion won in 2009 with the average growth rate in the past five years reaching 17 percent. The Thai subsidiary is the only surviving foreign life insurance set up in the southeast Asian country since 1997 due to its outstanding management strategy.
Samsung Air China has also been growing steadily in the past five years with its annual revenue tallied at 43 billion won in 2009. The company has succeeded in diversifying its customers by introducing such products as bancassurance for group customers to meet customers’ diverse needs. The products included those with dividends and investment returns, getting away with products with guarantees and no dividends. The Chinese insurance supervisory authority chose Samsung Air China as the company with the least number of customer complaints among insurance firms as a result of its astute asset management. The Chinese subsidiary also set up a branch in March, last year in Tianjin, one of the four directly administered metropolises by the central government in China and with over 11 million citizens and many foreign firms doing businesses in the city.
Samsung Life provides only the best products and services for total customer satisfaction by developing new products (guarantees, pensions, savings) and building CRM systems that meet the various needs of over 10 million customers. Our financial consulting services are designed to help you establish financial plans for the different stages of your life. Our various service channels such as LT, TC, CM, and FA make it easier for you to understand and use our financial products.
Individuals and businesses are becoming more interested in corporate welfare , such as the corporate pension system, private health insurance, and the selective corporate welfare system (Cafeteria Plan). Samsung Life aims to provide the best consulting services for corporate welfare, which ultimately contributes to the growth of your business and the happiness of your employees.
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President Lee Soo-chang of Samsung Life Insurance Co. 2nd R, in the front row, and officials of Samsung Air China Life Insurance Co., a joint venture between Samsung Life and Air China, pose for a photo session at the opening of the new joint venture firm in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China on July 16.