First Spring of Korea Life Insurance Vietnam

The increasingly serious economic crisis in America has not only put the world’s biggest economy into recession but also adversely affected quite a few other countries. In Asia, the South Korean economy has also been in an alarming situation with their won depreciating more than 40 per cent against the US dollar since September 2009, currently at its lowest since the financial crisis in 1997.

 

However, Hanwha, one of the top 10 largest conglomerates in South Korea (ranking 239th out of the top global 500, and 80th in Asia in 2008), has continuously grown and expanded its operations in 20 countries all over the world.

 

In Vietnam, Korea Life Insurance, the leading member of the Hanwha Group, was granted an investment licence in June 2008, and is now accelerating logistical preparation to officially “go-live” in early April 2009.

 

Vietnam Business Forum’s reporter Quang Dai had an interview with Mr. Francis Jungseop Hyun, CEO of Korea Life Insurance Vietnam.

 

The Hanwha Group was developed from the Korea Explosives (currently the Hanwha Corporation Explosives Division), which was set up in 1952 with major strengths in energy, petrochemical, machinery and engineering.

We have played an important role in the national industrialisation of South Korea and we have been one of the country’s top 10. conglomerates since 1970.

 

After becoming the group chairman in 1980, Mr. Kim Seung Youn decided to diversify the group portfolio to include finance, leisure services and apartment development and to maximise its globalisation strategies.

 

In 2002, the Hanwha Group acquired Korea Life Insurance and Hanwha Non-Life Insurance to become a leading conglomerate in financial services. At present, the Hanwha Group has 40 domestic affiliates in South Korea and a global network of 52 branches and subsidiaries across other 19 countries.

 

Although the Vietnam’s life insurance market has now been through the start-up stage with galloping growth rates, the market potential remains very attractive with more than 85 million residents and market penetration of merely 5 per cent.

In addition, more than 54 per cent of the population is aged less than 30 years - a demographically attractive element. The entry of Vietnam into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has resulted in more effective economic reform policies and helped maintaining high growth rates of GDP and GDP per capita.

 

In Vietnam, there are some foreign insurance companies with considerable market shares. However, this market has enormous potential and meets all our investment criteria.

 

With more than 60 years experience in life insurance, Korea Life will be able to offer Vietnamese customers outstanding benefits through tailor-made products and services.

 

In South Korea, we are a company with great contributions to the economic development of the country, whilst also improving the living standards of our customers.

 

Similarly, when investing in Vietnam, we also aim at making considerable contribution to the economic development of Vietnam and promoting the company’s development in the light of enhancing customer benefits.

 

We can anticipate that the current global economic stagnation will have some effect on the growth rate of the life insurance market in Vietnam in 2009. However, this will also be a good opportunity for Korea Life to quickly win the affection of Vietnamese customers by providing them with suitable products and quality services.

In South Korea, the Hanwha Group and Korea Life Insurance always focus on and take lead in nurturing and developing their human resources.

The ultimate goal for Korea Life’s development in Vietnam is to become a Vietnamese life insurance company. Therefore, only three out of more than 40 key positions are held by Koreans, the remaining are filled by talented and experienced staff from Vietnam and other nations.

 

Our view is that staff are not paid employees but team members in the quest to build up a strong Korea Life Insurance Company in Vietnam. Therefore, we always strive to put in place the best remuneration and terms for our staff and agency force, as we do in South Korea.

 

We provide diversified training programmes to enhance our staff’s and agents’ knowledge, attitude, skills and habits so as to better serve our customers.

 

We constantly try to tackle shortcomings and build an effective and comfortable working environment for our staff and agency force.

 

Our company’s business philosophy is built on three core values: Trust - Respect - Innovation. Accordingly, we constantly do our best to win the trust of our customers and the community through our social activities and pursue the endless innovation by nurturing our personnel and taking care of our customers.

 

The spring of 2009 is the first spring of Korea Life Insurance Vietnam. Although we are a foreign-invested company, our customers are Vietnamese and almost all of our human resources are also Vietnamese.

 

Therefore, our long-term strategy is to become an enterprise managed by Vietnamese and working for the Vietnamese people.

 

When investing in Vietnam, we do not aim at short-term profit but long-term growth. This applies to Korea Life Insurance in South Korea as well as in emerging markets like Vietnam.

 

As a life insurance company, our goal is not only contributing to the development of the financial services market but also contributing to the community social well-fare.

We believe we will be able to assist in improving our customers’ quality of life and to make important contribution to the development of Vietnam by providing tailor-made products and services and implementing meaningful social community activities.

I have worked in the life insurance industry for 36 years and in Vietnam for the past six years. My major responsibilities are for sales and our agency force.

 

Before joining Korea Life Insurance (KLI), I spent a lot of time getting to know more about the company and was very interested in its business philosophy of Trust, Respect and Innovation. These values and the culture are really important to me.

 

I feel that as a company we can make a significant difference in the lives of the Vietnamese people, not only our policy holders, but our staff and agents as well.

I see a very bright future for Korea Life Vietnam and for Vietnam.

 

 

Many Vietnamese people, including myself, would have some concerns about the possibility of joining a Korean company. However, after I started working for KLI, all of my concerns have vanished. The company’s management are open-hearted, friendly and attentive to creating favourable conditions for the staff to maximise their capabilities and talent. The company’s remuneration terms for both the staff and the agency force are very attractive. The working environment is relaxing and flexible, which allows for free flow of information and knowledge sharing. In general, in KLI, all employees are able to enjoy the best working conditions and I feel very happy about the work environment here.

 

I have worked in various senior roles for multinational financial services companies in the Asia Pacific region. Since joining Korea Life Insurance Vietnam, I found the company offers a world-class working environment. I am really excited to be involved in starting up the business and I believe that there are excellent opportunities for our company to grow and be very competitive over time. I look forward to working closely with our team of professional managers and staff to offer the best products and services to the Vietnamese people.