Samsung, Meritz non-life insurers achieve record Q3 earnings

[Courtesy of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance]

South Korean non-life insurance providers Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance Co. on Monday posted record earnings for the third quarter despite the unfavorable business environment.

On Monday, three out of the country’s top five non-life insurers – Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance, and DB Insurance Co. – released their third-quarter earnings.

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance maintained its leading position after posting 1.64 trillion won ($1.23 billion) in net profit as of the third quarter, up 27 percent from the same period of last year. Its pre-tax profit in the first 9 months reached 2.22 trillion won, marking an on-year increase of 25.8 percent.

Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance also posted record earnings of 1.3 trillion won in cumulative net profit to the end of the third quarter, up 26.7 percent on year. Its third-quarter net profit rose 29.2 percent on year to 496.3 billion won.

DB Insurance, however, reported a third-quarter cumulative net profit of 1.26 trillion won, down 8.2 percent due to the losses incurred by one-off incidents, including Typhoon Mawar, which hit Guam in May, and the forest fire in Hawaii in August.

The net profit for the third quarter also plunged 20.5 percent to 369.9 billion won.