S. Korean insurers increase profit by 13.9% to 6.08 trillion won in 2020

South Korea's insurance firms posted a net profit of 6.08 trillion won last year, up by 742 billion won or 13.9 percent, partly due to fewer car accidents as more people stayed home.

The net profit of life insurance companies increased 10.9 percent to 3,454.4 billion won, while those of non-life firms rose 8.1 percent to 2,626.2 billion won.

According to data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), loss ratios for auto insurance and long-term insurance improved due to decreasing the number of car accidents and hospital treatment cases.

Insurance income rose as guarantee reserves decreased and savings-type insurance sales went up compared with a year ago.

Last year, insurance firms posted a 221.9 trillion won premium income, up 4.3 percent from 2019.