![The headquarters of Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance in Gwanghwamun, Seoul. [Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/08/14/news-p.v1.20251114.6049a315e30448a4ac75ffb75a172502_P1.jpeg)
Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance reported a net profit for the period of 615.1 billion won ($435 million) for the first half of this year, up 36.4 percent from the same period last year, the company announced Friday. A more than twofold increase in long-term insurance profit drove the improvement. Second-quarter net profit came in at 391.8 billion won, a 58.2 percent year-on-year gain.
Insurance profit for the first half rose 81.6 percent year-on-year to 705.8 billion won, leading the overall earnings recovery. Long-term insurance profit reached 613.9 billion won, up 105.7 percent over the same period, as the deficit in the gap between actual and expected insurance claims narrowed and a one-time reversal from the application of updated actuarial assumption guidelines was recognized. General insurance profit climbed 38.9 percent year-on-year to 102.2 billion won, benefiting from a favorable base effect tied to large-loss claims last year and improved loss ratios.
Auto insurance, by contrast, swung to a loss of 10.2 billion won. Although the company raised premiums in February, the accumulated weight of prior premium cuts and rising claims costs proved significant. In the second quarter alone, however, auto insurance returned to a profit of 3.8 billion won, with a combined ratio — loss ratio plus expense ratio — of 99.8 percent.
Investment profit fell 55.3 percent year-on-year to 105.8 billion won. A partial recovery in the second quarter — to 99.7 billion won — offset some of the valuation losses recorded in the first quarter amid rising interest rates, but the first-half total still fell short of half the 236.4 billion won posted in the same period last year. The investment yield slipped 0.27 percentage points to 2.47 percent. Assets under management stood at 45.6 trillion won at end-June, down 3.0 percent from the start of the year.
The contractual service margin balance reached 9.89 trillion won at end-June, up 11.2 percent from end-2025, reflecting new-contract CSM additions and the effect of the updated actuarial assumption guidelines. New-contract CSM for the first half, however, declined 5.4 percent to 950.9 billion won, weighed down by an 11.9 percent drop in new personal insurance contracts — on a monthly premium equivalent basis — to 51.1 billion won. The new personal insurance contract CSM multiple rose to 18.5 times in the second quarter from 18.1 times in the previous quarter.
Profitability indicators improved. Loss ratios for policies in their first and second years of coverage came in at 20.3 percent and 72 percent, respectively — down 5.6 percentage points and 4.4 percentage points from the same period last year. The 13th-month persistency rate rose 0.9 percentage points to 87.5 percent, while the 25th-month rate gained 0.8 percentage points to 74.1 percent. Among new personal insurance contracts, the share of no-surrender-value products expanded 10.6 percentage points year-on-year to 57.7 percent.
Solvency indicators also strengthened. The Korea Insurance Capital Standard ratio — the key solvency measure, known as K-ICS — stood at 209.0 percent at end-June, up 18.9 percentage points from end-2025, reflecting the impact of higher interest rates. The core capital ratio was 83.8 percent, rising to 95 percent when surrender reserve funds are fully recognized. The asset-liability duration gap narrowed to 0.7 years from 1.7 years in the third quarter of last year. Shareholders' equity grew 27.1 percent from end-2025 to 6.21 trillion won.
psj@heraldcorp.com
