Joint service set for launch later this month

Officials from Samsung Life Insurance and Woongjin Freelife pose for a photo after signing a strategic business partnership memorandum of understanding at Woongjin Freelife's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday. [Samsung Life Insurance]
Officials from Samsung Life Insurance and Woongjin Freelife pose for a photo after signing a strategic business partnership memorandum of understanding at Woongjin Freelife's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday. [Samsung Life Insurance]

Samsung Life Insurance will launch a health care service for customers of Woongjin Freelife, the top player in South Korea's funeral services industry.

Samsung Life signed a strategic business partnership memorandum of understanding with Woongjin Freelife at the company's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday, it announced Wednesday. Woongjin Freelife is a total life-care company that has built customer trust in the funeral industry over more than two decades. It became the first in the sector to launch a chartered cruise service and has expanded into the premium wedding venue business. The company holds 2.91 trillion won ($2.19 billion) in accumulated prepaid membership funds, making it the industry leader; it joined the Woongjin Group last year.

Under the agreement, the two companies pledged to work closely across a range of areas, including developing joint services that incorporate health care offerings, running co-marketing and promotional campaigns, and designing customized benefits for customers.

As a first step in the partnership, a health care service for Woongjin Freelife customers is set to launch later this month. The service provides step-by-step support from routine health management through post-diagnosis care for serious illnesses. Subscribers will have access to non-medical health consultations, nurse accompaniment at major general hospitals, and senior care services.

The service is expected to ease the caregiving burden on families of Woongjin Freelife customers at a time when accompanying relatives to hospital and providing in-home care have emerged as pressing social issues, driven by South Korea's entry into a super-aged society and the growing number of dual-income and single-person households.

Meanwhile, Samsung Life earlier this year unveiled its future vision of a "life-care integrated financial platform" — an ecosystem it described as connecting customers' everyday lives beyond insurance. The launch of this service and the external partnership are expected to mark a turning point for Samsung Life as it moves in earnest to build out that platform, having already expanded its health care footprint through its health management app "The Health" and senior living and care subsidiary Samsung Noblelife.

"This partnership is an important milestone on our path toward becoming a life-care platform that looks after the overall health and well-being of our customers, going beyond insurance," a Samsung Life official said. "Starting with the health care service, we will continue to expand offerings that provide real, practical help in customers' daily lives."


won@heraldcorp.com