Insurers' Q1 net falls 26 pct on increased operating losses

SEOUL, May 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's insurance firms saw their profits decline in the first quarter from a year earlier due to increased insurance operating losses, data showed Tuesday.

The combined net profit of insurance firms operating in South Korea stood at 1.46 trillion won (US$1.17 billion) in the January-March period, down 26.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Life insurers saw their combined net profit fall 38.4 percent on-year to 778.2 billion won in the first quarter, while the combined net profit of non-life insurers declined 4.3 percent on-year to 688 billion won.

The decline in the combined net profit came as the insurance firms suffered increased insurance operating losses.

Insurers' premium income totaled 50.37 trillion won in the January-March period, up 6.3 percent from a year earlier.

Their aggregate assets grew 5.2 percent on-year to 1,241.82 trillion won at the end of March. Their return on equity declined 2.31 percentage points to 4.57 percent in the first quarter.

entropy@yna.co.kr
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