Nine employees and consultants named 'Consumer Protection Heroes'

Insurer releases industry-first 'Voice of the Customer' white paper

'Consumer Protection Week' to run from Friday

Samsung Life Insurance headquarters [Samsung Life Insurance]
Samsung Life Insurance headquarters [Samsung Life Insurance]

Samsung Life Insurance announced Thursday that it held its second annual in-house Financial Consumer Day under the slogan "A promise to protect customers, a future built on trust."

Samsung Life established the internal observance in September last year to promote a consumer-centered work culture among its employees and consultants. This year's event drew about 200 participants — including employees, consultants and customer panelists — who shared consumer protection case studies and reviewed the results of initiatives shaped by customer feedback.

At the event, nine employees and consultants who led consumer protection efforts were named "Consumer Protection Heroes." The recognition is intended to highlight contributions to protecting customer rights, supporting vulnerable groups and preventing financial harm, with the aim of spreading a consumer-first management culture across the organization.

Among those honored was Lee Mi-ja, a consultant at the Gwangmu First Branch of the Seomyeon regional division, who was recognized for accompanying a customer through the entire course of cancer treatment. She had first connected with the customer by raising awareness of the importance of protection assets when the customer saw little need for insurance, and continued to provide support after the diagnosis. "Helping a customer overcome an unexpected hardship made me reflect once again on the role and value of insurance," Lee said.

The event also highlighted the work of the company's internal advisory body, the Consumer Rights Protection Committee. Samsung Life has operated the committee since 2018, drawing on outside experts from academia, the legal profession and the medical field to review major consumer rights issues and support customer-oriented decision-making. A total of 198 agenda items have been submitted to the committee to date, of which 118 were ultimately accepted. This year, nine out of 10 items were accepted.

The exhibition area at the venue featured the debut of a "Voice of the Customer" white paper — the first of its kind in the insurance industry. The comprehensive report documents Samsung Life's consumer protection efforts and key achievements based on customer feedback, covering its consumer protection framework, an analysis of voice-of-customer categories along with examples of system and service improvements, and major consumer protection activities. The full report is available on the Samsung Life website under the "Financial Consumer Protection Best Practices" section.

Samsung Life will launch a follow-up "Consumer Protection Week" campaign starting Friday. From Saturday through Sunday, the company will operate a voice-phishing prevention booth at the Seoripul Music Festival in Seocho-gu in partnership with the Seocho Police Station, offering consultations, help installing security apps and a phishing audio simulation program. The company also plans to hold financial fraud prevention education sessions for senior citizens in partnership with local welfare centers, as well as on-site consumer protection education for general agencies that have signed MOUs with the insurer.

"Consumer protection is the starting point of all our work and decision-making," a Samsung Life official said. "We will consistently repay our customers' trust by listening carefully to their voices and translating them into meaningful changes in our systems and services."

The results are reflected in the company's metrics. Samsung Life's misselling rate for its exclusive consultant channel stood at 0.05% last year, while the general agency channel came in at 0.04% — both significantly lower than two years earlier, when the rates were 0.12% and 0.15%, respectively. The number of complaints per 100,000 policies in force also fell, from 9.3 in 2023 to 8.9 last year.


won@heraldcorp.com