This week in insurance: SK non-life insurers face pressure, Dai-Ichi Life HD buys stake in M&G, Australia sues comparison site

In addition, Cambodia’s gross premiums rose by 6.6% YoY in April to $27.3m.

Asia-Pacific's insurance sector saw market changes from June 2-6, 2025: from South Korea’s non-life insurance industry facing capital pressure and Cambodia's gross premiums increasing in April, alongside corporate realignments like Dai-Ichi Life HD acquiring approximately 15% of asset manager M&G.

Over the next 12 months, the South Korean insurance industry is expected to experience moderate growth with a heightened emphasis on profitability management of long-term insurance, according to a report by AM Best.

Other risks include slow growth prospects and weaken underwriting profitability in South Korea’s auto insurance segment.

Meanwhile, in Cambodia, gross premiums rose by 6.6% year-on-year (YoY) in April to $27.3m, attributable to an increase in life insurance and general insurance coverage.

Life insurance increased by 9.8% YoY to $16.3m, whilst the number of policies surged by 57% to 104,304.

In other regional developments, the Insurance Council of Australia and insurers will be redrafting the General Insurance Code of Practice to be more consumer-centric, modern, fit-for-purpose, and contractually enforceable.

This comes after stakeholders reported that the current code is difficult to understand and does not reflect contemporary challenges.

On the business front, Dai-Ichi Life HD is acquiring approximately 15% of asset manager M&G. This will make M&G the Dai-Ichi's preferred asset manager partner in Europe.

The company expects to generate at least $2b in new business flows from the partnership and stake acquisition over the next five years.

Across the region, Sompo Japan Insurance has submitted a business improvement plan to the local Financial Services Agency (FSA) concerning customer information leakage.

In a statement, Sompo Japan Insurance apologised for “any inconvenience and concern caused to our customers and all other stakeholders.”

Further, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is suing insurance comparison provider Choosi Pty Ltd for allegedly making false and misleading representations by claiming it compared products from a range of funeral and life insurers.

However, ASIC claims that Choosi had only compared policies issued by a single insurer, with one exception.

ASIC alleges that at least 4,225 funeral insurance policies and 9,478 life insurance policies were affected, with Choosi receiving $61m in commissions. The period covered starts at 1 July 2019 until the present.