Today’s Silver Reporter Kim Se-gwan | 2023.02.16 05:45
President Yoon Seok-yeol’s comments about the ‘bank money feast’ are putting stress on the insurance industry. Some insurance companies, which posted record performance last year, also handed out substantial performance bonuses to their employees. The financial authorities decided to check the appropriateness of incentives for financial holding companies. It is expected that insurance companies may also be subject to related audits.
According to the insurance industry on the 15th, major non-life insurance companies (hereafter referred to as non-life insurers), which had a record performance last year, had paid or planned to pay large bonuses to their executives and employees.
In particular, on the 31st of last month, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance paid 47% of the annual salary as performance bonuses. In addition, 41% of the annual salary is for DB Insurance, 30% for Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, 550% of the monthly bonus for KB Insurance, and 50-60% of the annual salary for Meritz Fire and Marine Insurance placed as incentives.
Life insurance companies also give performance bonuses, such as Samsung Life Insurance paying employees 23% of their annual salary, but they cannot be compared to non-life insurers. The reason major non-life insurers were able to pay such generous bonuses was because they posted record performance last year.
In fact, the combined net profit of the top five non-life insurers (Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, DB Insurance, KB Insurance, Meritz Fire & Marine) is expected to exceed 4 trillion won. This is the first time that the net profit of the five main non-life insurers has exceeded the 4 trillion won.
The reduction in the loss ratio in the main products, auto insurance and medical indemnity insurance (indemnity insurance), was mainly due to the influence of social distancing due to the spread of Corona 19 (COVID-19). The operating loss was significantly reduced, leading to record results.
Based on this, it appears that insurance companies share their performance with their employees. In addition, some insurance companies have a system in place to compensate for the low base pay with performance pay. The insurance industry’s argument is that they should look at their performance pay system taking this peculiarity into account.
An official from an insurance company said, “Most insurance companies are in the red, but they have a structure that makes a profit by offsetting the deficit through asset management.”
Nevertheless, since President Yoon and the financial authorities have been pouring out statements emphasizing the publicity and public interest of banks, it is difficult for insurance companies to ignore them. There are also many insurance companies linked to financial holding companies, which are the direct targets of the ‘money feast’. This is the reason why the possibility of sparks related to insurance companies is raised.
It is also known that the financial authorities are concerned. On the 14th, Director Bok-Hyeon Lee of the Financial Supervisory Service issued an order to “verify whether the performance-based pay system is being implemented in accordance with the purpose and principles of the Financial Company Governance Act” regarding bank performance – related charge There is an opinion that there is
An official from the financial authorities said, “The recent atmosphere of pressure on the banking sector has no choice but to affect the neighboring financial industry.”
[저작권자 @머니투데이, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
