insurance firms-Q1 earnings

Insurers' Q1 net up 9.5 pct on investment gains

SEOUL, May 27 (Yonhap) -- Insurance companies in South Korea saw their combined net profit rise 9.5 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier on the back of higher gains on their investments, data showed Wednesday.

The combined net profit of 22 life insurers and 30 non-life insurance companies here came to 4.48 trillion won (US$2.97 billion) in the January-March period, up 390 billion won from a year earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

The on-year increase is attributed to a gain in investment gains such as asset sale, according to the financial watchdog.

Life insurance firms' net profit soared 40.6 percent on-year to 2.38 trillion won in the first quarter, with that of non-life insurers dipping 12.3 percent to 2.1 trillion won over the cited period.

The companies' insurance premium income came to 66.49 trillion won in the first quarter, up 6 percent, or 3.76 trillion won, from a year earlier, the data showed.

Their return on assets stood at 1.33 percent at end-March, down 0.06 percentage point from a year earlier, with their return on equity slipping 1.89 percentage points to 10.03 percent.

Their total assets stood at 1,353 trillion won as of end-March, up 0.7 percent, or 9.8 trillion won, from a year earlier, the data showed.

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