Kyobo Life chief Shin Chang-jae inducted into insurance hall of fame

Shin Chang-jae, chief executive and chairman of South Korea’s Kyobo Life Insurance Co., has been honored with a prestigious award from the International Insurance Society (IIS), following in his father’s footsteps to win the honor – the industry’s first to do so.

Kyobo, Korea’s third-largest life insurer, said on Wednesday that Shin has been named the 2023 Insurance Hall of Fame laureate.

The selection follows the induction of his late father and founder of Kyobo Life Shin Yong-ho into the IIS’ Insurance Hall of Fame in 1996. It is unprecedented for a parent and child to have both won the award, according to Kyobo.

Billed as the Nobel Prize of Insurance, the award is the industry’s top honor recognizing the recipient’s contributions to the development of the insurance industry through innovative activities.

The IIS, founded in 1965, is based in New York and has more than 1,000 members, including CEOs and executives of insurance companies and related organizations from over 100 countries.

Joshua Landau, president of IIS, said Shin was selected for the award because he has embodied the spirit of the Insurance Hall of Fame through his innovative and insightful leadership as well as his people-first approach.

OB/GYN-TURNED-ENTREPRENEUR

Formerly an obstetrician/gynecologist and professor at Seoul National University, Shin took the helm of Kyobo Life in 2000 when the insurer posted a net loss of 250 billion won ($191 billion). Under his leadership, the company has turned into a blue-chip company, earning 400 billion-600 billion won annually.

One memorable incident involving Chairman Shin is that back in 2000 he showed his employees a fake news story reporting that Kyobo Life had gone bankrupt to instill a sense of urgency among them.

"As a physician of obstetrics and gynecology, human dignity is the highest value that cannot be exchanged for anything else,” he once said.

Kyobo is Korea’s third-largest life insurer after market leader Samsung Life Insurance Co. and No. 2 player Hanwha Life Insurance Co.

Kyobo is working to transform itself into a holding company by the second half of 2024 to raise its corporate value.

Following the corporate restructuring, the company is also seeking to list its shares on the main bourse to give its financial investors, including Singapore's GIC, Affinity Equity Partners, Baring Private Equity and IMM Private Equity, a chance to exit from their investments.

Write to In-Hyeok Lee at twopeople@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.