Seoul Guarantee Insurance a triple winner at the Insurance Asia Awards 2020

The largest comprehensive guarantee insurer in Korea celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019.

Seoul Guarantee Insurance (SGI) landed three awards at the Insurance Asia Awards 2020, presented by Insurance Asia magazine. The insurer was named “Domestic General Insurer of the Year - South Korea”, “Asian Credit Insurer of the Year”, and “CSR Initiative of the Year - South Korea”.

Each year, the Insurance Asia Awards look to honor insurance companies in Asia that create ground-breaking initiatives to bring positive changes to the insurance industry, especially amidst rapidly evolving market trends.

Over the last two years, SGI has achieved its priority goal and attained sustainable growth by implementing new marketing strategies on product development and “ICT and partnership.” SGI had also been hailed as the third largest guarantee and credit insurer in the world for two consecutive years according to the 2018 and 2019 ICISA data.

SGI achieved a record-high performance based on its successful business in Korea and Vietnam, and is now aiming towards European, Middle East, and ASEAN markets. Thus, SGI started to offer the Counter Guarantee Bond (CGB) which resulted in an expanded coverage to 12 banks and 118 countries as of end-2019.

SGI’s guarantee and credit insurance has played an important role for the economic development of Korea. It is for these contributions that SGI was named “Domestic General Insurer of the Year - South Korea”.

Over the same period, SGI has also led the growth of the Account Receivable Credit Insurance market of Korea by identifying new business areas associated with the product. In terms of premium income, SGI recorded US$27m in 2017, US$30m in 2018 and US$41m in 2019.

The product has significantly lowered the risk that may arise in relation to the account receivable management by customers, and thus customers have been able to focus more on boosting sales.

In addition, SGI launched various products for individuals and corporations, such as House Rental Security Deposit Credit Insurance, Mortgage Credit Insurance, Personal Financial Credit Insurance, and Account Receivable Credit Insurance. As a result, SGI could go beyond Korea and become the largest credit insurer in Asia.

On the credit insurance front, SGI has recorded approximately US$1.2b in premium income over the last two years, ranking first in Asia and fourth in the world. In 2018, premium income increased 35.6% year on year to US$661m, a record high in SGI’s credit insurance history. These achievements have helped it win the “Asian Credit Insurer of the Year” award.

In addition, SGI has achieved an excellent business performance and is actively engaged in corporate social responsibilities to protect the socially marginalized population and help them gain economic independence.

SGI has actively provided credit for SMEs and startups to help them run their businesses without difficulty and actively supported the low-income population by providing them with the guarantee insurance products. Internally, SGI strengthened the unity of its employees by encouraging them and their families to be engaged in voluntary activities.

SGI aims to support the medical, educational, and housing areas under the motto “Assisting the Growth and Independence of Future Generations.” This active engagement and dedication landed the company the CSR Initiative of the Year - South Korea trophy in the Insurance Asia Awards.

Based on such solid foundations, SGI founded the Asia Guarantee and Credit Insurance Association (AGCIA) earlier this April, along with 7 other founding members from 5 different countries. AGCIA is Asia’s first international guarantee and credit insurance organization dedicated to fulfilling the vision of “Making Asia a Better Place to Live.” It serves to build a communal network where market information and operational knowledge could be actively exchanged and applied, as well as to provide various educational opportunities particularly in guarantee and credit insurance.

AGCIA is recently focusing its efforts to invite more insurance companies to join as a member in order to build a major guarantee and credit insurance platform in Asia.

Watch the interview below to know more about their winning strategies: