Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today for Samsung Life' s Earnings Presentation. Today, we will start off with the presentation by the company, followed by your questions. Please press star and one to ask a question. Now, we will begin Samsung Life 's 2025 First Half Earnings Presentation. Good afternoon, everyone. This is Minyoung Kim, Head of Investor Relations. Thank you for joining us today for Samsung Life 's 2025 First Half Earnings Presentation. Today's call is scheduled for one hour, starting with the earnings presentation delivered by our CFO, Mr. Wonsam Lee, and followed by your questions, which will be addressed by the members of our management team present here today.
Please note that the figures in this presentation may be revised during the auditing process, and any forward-looking statements, including the earnings outlook contained in today's conference call, are subject to change depending on both domestic and overseas market conditions and operating environment. Let me now hand over the presentation to our CFO, Mr. Wonsam Lee. Good afternoon, everyone. This is the CFO, Wonsam Lee. I would like to thank our investors and analysts for taking the time out of your busy schedules to attend today's earnings call. I sincerely apologize for delaying the conference call due to my unavoidable schedule conflict, and thank you for your kind understanding. Let me start with our key business results for the first half of 2025.
In the first half of 2025, despite the intensifying competition within the overall health insurance segment, we were able to grow our health new business, GSM, by 27.6% year-on-year to record ₩1.1 trillion, expanding our market dominance in the health business. Multiple further new business health products recorded 16.6 times on the back of efforts to strengthen product competitiveness and manage efficiency. Through this, both the quality and quantity of new business improved. In addition, we were able to strengthen the foundation for GSM growth by increasing our exclusive FC agents, along with increasing the number of active GA (general agency) branches that sell our products. Our GSM balance at the end of June was ₩13.7 trillion, increasing by KRW 0.8 trillion year to date, owing to new business GSM of KRW 1.4 trillion and efficiency management.
Consolidated net profit for the first half recorded KRW 1.394 trillion, having increased by 1.9% year-on-year, backed by solid insurance service results, owing to increase in our CSM balance and stable investment profit. KICS ratio at the end of June recorded 187%, while our tier 1 capital KICS ratio recorded 142%. Both improved quarter on quarter while maintaining adequate solvency. Let me now walk you through our financial highlights. Our consolidated net profit for the first half grew by KRW 26 billion year-on-year to KRW 1.4 trillion. On a quarterly basis, net profit recorded KRW 759 billion in the second quarter, which is up from first quarter's KRW 635 billion. Insurance profit reported KRW 831 billion, while investment profit reported KRW 1 trillion in the first half. I will go over the specifics in the next slides. Insurance service results for the first half recorded KRW 831 billion, growing by 16.8% year-on-year.
The strong earnings were led by an increase in CSM amortization profit on the back of increased CSM balance, while operating variance remained stable, owing to improved efficiency. In addition, CSM loss from in-force contracts dropped in the second quarter. We will do our best to secure robust insurance profits by expanding our CSM balance by increasing quality new business CSM and stringent efficiency management. Following is a breakdown of our investment profits. Investment profit in the first half reported KRW 1 trillion, lower from a year ago. Despite increase in recurring profits attributable to solid net interest margin and dividend income, investment profits dip due to lower subsidiary contributions. Even with the recent volatility in the financial markets, we plan to secure stable investment profits going forward through our asset diversification strategy under stringent risk management. Next is the current status of our consolidated balance sheet.
Our total assets came in at KRW 319 trillion as of June and is comprised of KRW 218 trillion in invested assets, KRW 27 trillion in variable account, KRW 30 trillion in corporate pension account, and KRW 44 trillion in Samsung card and other consolidated subsidiaries. Total liabilities came in at KRW 285 trillion, with insurance liabilities recording v 208 trillion, including KRW 13.7 trillion for CSM. Shareholders' equity recorded KRW 34 trillion. Next is the CSM movement. Our CSM balance at the end of June was KRW 13.7 trillion, which is a favorable result with an increase of KRW 0.8 trillion year to date. As mentioned earlier, this is a result of us securing quality new business focused on the health segment in the first half, generating KRW 1.4 trillion of new business CSM. It also reflects CSM adjustment and amortization of -KRW 0.1 trillion and -KRW 0.7 trillion, respectively.
Going forward, we will increase our insurance profit by securing new business CSM more than that of the first half level and achieve stable CSM balance growth by thoroughly managing all efficiency indicators. Now, let me explain the changes in shareholders' equity in more detail. Our shareholders' equity at the end of June came in at KRW 33.7 trillion, increasing by KRW 0.9 trillion year to date. The increase is supported by a stronger Samsung Electronics share price and solid profit generation, which offset the strengthening of the FSS liability discount rate. Accumulated other comprehensive income came in at KRW 13.3 trillion, consisting of KRW 0.5 trillion in insurance finance income and KRW 13 trillion in financial assets, including valuation gains from SEC shares and bond valuation loss. Now, let me walk you through our business highlights.
In the second quarter, new business CSM recorded KRW 769 billion, up by 16.8% quarter on quarter, thanks to strong high-margin health product sales. On a cumulative basis, new business CSM for the first half of this year recorded KRW 1.4 trillion. The proportion of health within new business CSM increased from 74% in the first quarter to 85% in the second quarter. On a cumulative basis, it recorded 80% in the first half. The CSM multiple of profitability indicator reported 12.2x , an improvement from 10.2 x in the first quarter, while health profitability stayed strong at 16.6x . Let me explain in more detail about the performance of our health new business CSM in the next slide. Health new business CSM recorded KRW 653 billion in the second quarter, which was an all-time high since the adoption of the new accounting standard IFRS 17.
This was backed by enhancing product competitiveness and sales infrastructure. In the first half of this year, we enhanced our non-price competitiveness by improving the underwriting process and increasing services related to healthcare, as well as launching new health products to lead the market. In the second half, we will further expand our sales power to become the number one player within the health insurance industry, combining both life and non-life insurers. We will continuously launch new health products and improve our sales infrastructure. Through this, we expect to create more new business CSMs in the first half of this year. Next is on our distribution channel. Our exclusive channel plays a major role in securing quality new business, as it has a competitive edge in profitability and efficiency management compared to peers. As of June, there are roughly 48,000 agents in our exclusive channel.
As such, the exclusive FC channel saw a net increase of 3,500 agents year to date, maintaining our position as the industry-leading exclusive channel. In addition, FC agents that recently joined have greatly improved their sales power in selling the health products and have played a pivotal role in growing the CSM, resulting in the health proportion within protection type products to grow to 83%. Next is on our GA channel performance. To expand our performance within the GA channel, we provided price-competitive products exclusive to the GAs and improved our sales infrastructure. We also secured partnerships with over 3,000 GA branches with high productivity, in addition to the 500 managers assisting GAs, which is one of the highest numbers within the life insurance industry.
As a result, health new business CSM from the GA channel recorded KRW 132 billion in the first half, increasing by 3.7 x year-on-year, with the proportion of health within the protection type rising to 77.5%. We expect our GA channel to continuously contribute to the expansion within the health market. Next is the usage of our AI and digital technology. For the past few years, we have been recommending paperless options, such as usage of the mobile for insurance transactions or managing customers. As an early starter within the insurance industry, we were able to secure leading digital competitiveness. In addition, to respond to the rapidly changing insurance technology environment, such as generative AI, we have established relevant teams at the end of last year to further advance our digital competitiveness.
We have actively expanded the application of AI technology from previous chatbot-centered counseling to insurance core tasks, such as new business underwriting and payment. We also utilize the AI tools to improve the sales productivity of all channels, such as the FC, GA, and GFC, by analyzing the different writers and customized insurance products for each customer. Next is our major efficiency trends. Protection persistency ratio, which is one of the most important metrics in managing the CSM, stayed similar at 88% in the 13th month, while improving to 81% for the 25th month. Loss ratio recorded 80% in the second quarter, improving quarter on quarter, driven by the death benefit segment, but inched up year-on-year, owing to the low base from last year due to the medical strike.
Going forward, we will stably manage our annual loss ratio by expanding our risk premium, strengthening our underwriting, and by managing fraudulent claims. Next is our asset management results. As of June, our invested assets recorded KRW 218 trillion, of which interest-bearing assets, such as bonds and loans, account for 68%, while equity and beneficiary certificate assets contribute to securing stable dividend income. Despite difficult macro environments and political uncertainties, our first half investment yield recorded 3.29% through asset diversification under tight risk management. Delinquency ratio recorded 0.22% as of June end, which is one of the lowest levels in the industry. Going forward, we will do our best to minimize future losses through preemptive risk management, including tightening our underwriting criteria and trimming down our loan balance. Next is the KICS ratio.
As of June, our KICS ratio recorded 187% due to an increase in available capital, such as CSM balance and net profit, resulting in a 10 percentage point increase from the 177% posted in March. Please refer to the table on the right for details regarding our June KICS ratio and KICS sensitivity to the interest rate and SEC share price. We will continue our efforts to manage the volatility in our KICS ratio and maintain our capital adequacy over 180% by reducing the duration gap through increasing ultra-long-term bonds and by seeding financial reinsurance. Lastly, I will go over the direction of our corporate value enhancement plan. Since the adoption of the new accounting system, we have continued to increase our shareholder return over the past three years based on improved fundamentals and profit growth.
Going forward, we will gradually increase our shareholder return to meet the mid-term target of 50% and enhance our corporate value by improving our ROE based on recurring profit growth and maintaining adequate capital. We will be reviewing our 2025 dividend payout ratio, considering the recently proposed separate taxation on dividend income, in which one of the requirements is to maintain a payout ratio of over 40%. By doing so, we will do our best to ensure that Samsung Life can position itself as a high-quality dividend growth stock in the market. This concludes our presentation on our 2025 first half earnings results. Thank you for attending today's earnings call, and we appreciate your continued interest and support for Samsung Life .
[Foreign language]
Now the Q&A session will begin. Please press star one that is star one, if you have any questions. Questions will be taken according to the order you have pressed the number star one. For cancellation, please press star two , that is star two on your phone.
[Foreign language]
The first question will be provided by MW Kim from JPMorgan. Please go ahead with your question.
[Foreign language]
Yes, this is Mong Kim from JPMorgan. Thank you for the opportunity, and I will be asking two questions. First of all, on a half-year basis, it seems that your Solvency Capital Ratio has recovered quite well. It's now up to 187%. Should we expect more or less year-end levels around 180%, as I believe you stated as your year-end target, or if you have any other views, please share. The government, of course, has lowered the Minimum Capital Ratio. That said, what is the company's view toward your current capital position? 180%, would that be sufficient in terms of funding business growth for your fast-growing business, I mean, while doing sufficient dividend payouts? What is the assessment? Second, if you look at the rate of growth for your required capital, I think certainly it has slowed down.
A lot of your legacy high-yield products actually are maturing, and new products actually provide a significant boost to CSM growth, and they're capital-light in terms of how much reserve they consume. Looking maybe the next two, three years out, what is your outlook in terms of the growth path for required capital? It seems that for the first half, you have seen significant improvement in terms of your profitability and soundness overall. Perhaps could this be translated into added benefits for your shareholders? When can we expect more details in terms of your Value Up disclosure, and what particular initiatives, if any, are you thinking about at the company level?
[Foreign language]
Yes, this is Wonsam Lee, the Head of the Risk Management team.
[Foreign language]
Our KICS ratio for the first half of the year has recovered back to 187%. In terms of attribution and key factors, the interest rate and share price increase accounted for 4%, the regulatory change by FSS 5%, and then new business another 1%.
[Foreign language]
Up to the end of the year, assuming that interest rates and share price movements maintain current levels, we see both a mix of downside and upside factors. For downside, it could be end-of-the-year distribution of dividends, potential fall of interest rates, and CSM adjustment. We see potential for upside as we increase new business CSM. On balance, we expect to be able to deliver end-of-year KICS at above 180%, which is our target.
[Foreign language]
If we are able to maintain a KICS ratio of 180% at the end of 2025, we believe that there will be no major changes to our previous commitment in terms of dividend policy, and we find that that would be an appropriate level.
[Foreign language]
In terms of required capital growth, which you asked about, we have been driving new business and sales primarily centered around health products. As you know, in terms of the components of required capital, market or credit risk is actually quite sizable, whereas underwriting or insurance-related risk is not in comparative terms. Health products actually tend to have much higher CSM growth. Overall, we think our available capital will grow at a much faster rate compared to the rate of growth for required capital.
am the Chief Financial Officer.
Yes, this is the CFO. Let me cover your second question.
[Foreign language]
Our utmost priority is to enhance shareholder value by driving stronger earnings growth to improve ROE. We will cautiously consider the macro conditions, including the directionality for interest rate movement in determining our capital deployment strategy to determine the timing for our Value Up disclosure.
[Foreign language]
We are thinking very hard about potential new business areas as well, which will be reflected in our Value Up plan. Those include senior living business initiatives, also expanding the scope of our global business to also include advanced economies as well, which we are giving very serious thought to.
[Foreign language]
In terms of our KICS ratio, we believe that it is a sufficient level to gradually expand our shareholder return up to 50% in the mid to longer term, and we expect and will plan on maintaining 180%.
[Foreign language]
We will again be mindful of the changing market conditions, the regulatory and legal environment as well, and we will do our very best to be able to share more on our Value Up plan at an earlier date as much as possible. We remain firmly committed to our shareholder return policy and will work to make sure that it is executed without setback.
[Foreign language]
As we work hard to gradually improve total shareholder return up to 50% in the midterm, we have also previously communicated our intent to gradually increase our payouts as well, which was 38% as of fiscal year 2024.
[Foreign language]
Obviously, there is a pending issue where to qualify for a separate taxation of dividend income, there has to be underlying payout above 40%. We will be mindful of those types of developments as well and work hard to enhance the attractiveness of the Samsung Life shares as a fast-growing dividend growth stock.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
May I ask one further question, please?
[Foreign language]
Share buyback and potential cancellation may be an important part of your Value Up disclosure. Any comments from the company?
[Foreign language]
This is the Chief Financial Officer.
[Foreign language]
In terms of our plan for treasury shares, between cancellation of treasury share holdings and also new buyback and cancellation of new treasury shares, we have not yet established any order of priority yet, but we are reviewing how best to leverage our treasury shares, mindful of enhancing corporate value in the mid to long term.
[Foreign language]
If you look at the payout of the major financial holding companies and groups in Korea, it's usually between 40% to 50% of net profit, which is used toward cash dividend distribution, also share buyback and cancellation. For us in 2024, actually, we had similar payout at about 38% of 2024 net income, and we have also reiterated our commitment to gradually enhance that payout further to 50% in the midterm.
[Foreign language]
The following question will be presented by Hyun Lim from Shinhan Investment & Securities. Please go ahead with your question.
[Foreign language]
Yes, thank you for delivering solid performance. I have two brief questions. First of all, it seems compared to past levels, your CSM adjustment actually has gone down quite significantly. If you could provide a more detailed breakdown of the adjustment, I believe that CSM quality is a growing concern within the market. Apart from CSM multiple, what other meaningful indicators do you track at the company level? What do you look at with particular interest in terms of monitoring? Second, on page 12 of your deck, I think you provide details about AI or digital-related initiatives. Could you provide any quantitative numbers in terms of how much efficiency gain has been achieved, how much in cost savings you have also seen? If you have some numbers you could share, we would appreciate it.
Leader and Executive Director. I will answer.
Yes, this is Bang In Chol, Head of the Actuarial Team.
[Foreign language]
In terms of the CSM adjustment for the first half, you asked for a detailed breakdown. Let me break it down into recurring factors versus non-recurring.
[Foreign language]
In terms of recurring factor for CSM adjustment, it's due to an accounting operational variance. It depends on the different lapse rate at the time of valuation. On a recurring basis, it's between KRW 200 billion -KRW 300 billion, what we call enforced variance.
[Foreign language]
For the first half this year, we have two non-recurring or one-off factors that came into play. First is the regulatory change to differentiate loss ratios depending on age group, which was enforced in the first quarter.
[Foreign language]
The second one-off factor was in terms of a slight improvement to our assumptions regarding the depositor protection premium, also other dues and fees related to the second quarter.
[Foreign language]
This is Lee Dong Hoon. I'm Head of the Channel and Marketing team. You asked about what indicators other than CSM multiple we look at. We look at various metrics, of course, new business CSM, lapse also, CSM balance. Another major KPI, of course, is the net CSM movement or net increase.
[Foreign language]
Yes, this is Yang Gongyong, Head of the AR Initiative Team. Let me cover the second question.
[Foreign language]
We are applying AI technology across many different parts of our insurance core business and business processes, and we believe we are achieving operational efficiency, cost savings, as well as overall strengthening of our operations.
[Foreign language]
These efficiency improvements, we are mostly tracking for internal management purpose. If there is an opportunity later on to share more details about what those metrics are exactly, we'll try to do that at a later date.
[Foreign language]
We continue to increase our AI-related organization and headcount as we make more investments into AI. We are committed to continuing these AI initiatives so that we can play the role as a leader in the industry.
[Foreign language]
Yes, was that a sufficient answer to your question?
[Foreign language]
Yes, thank you.
[Foreign language]
The following question will be presented by Dong Kim from Hanwha Investment & Securities. Please go ahead with your question.
[Foreign language]
Yes, thank you for the opportunity to ask some questions. First, just briefly on your duration gap. In the first quarter, it was - 1.6 years. As of the second quarter, how much narrower is it? Second, it seems that you have seen some recovery from your loss-making or owners' contracts. I see from your first half business report that there is positive recovery across all product types, including health, annuity, also mortality coverage. Could you break it down by the product or coverage type? Like before, could you also break it down into new business versus enforced contracts? I asked a related question that came up earlier about CSM adjustment. The total aggregate number is not that sizable, but you explained how there was a negative KRW 200 billion or so impact from increased lapse.
The improvement that you mentioned briefly about from the depositor protection premium, is it enough to offset and make up that amount? Did it provide that kind of offsetting positive CSM adjustment?
[Foreign language]
Yes, this is Wonsam Lee, Head of the Risk Management team.
[Foreign language]
The second quarter duration gap as of the second quarter 2025 is 1.4 years.
[Foreign language]
We are working to narrow this - 1.4 year duration gap further by investing more in long-dated bonds, also forward KTBs as a way of enhancing our ALM management and allocation towards 50-year strip bonds, for example. The authorities are working on enhancing or tightening regulations regarding the duration gap. We will, of course, stay aligned to those developments.
[Foreign language]
Yes, this is Bang In Chol from the Actuarial team. Let me cover questions two and three.
[Foreign language]
In terms of the factors for CSM adjustment in the first half of the year, the impact from the depositor protection premium actually was not that major. It's just KRW 100 billion or so. Most of the impact came from the different loss ratios applied by age range, which was enforced in the first quarter, which had more or less an even impact across all product types.
[Foreign language]
In terms of any impairment loss on new contracts, typically on a quarterly basis, we have about KRW 20 billion -KRW 30 billion in impairment loss from new sales, mostly coming from indemnity-type product sales or mini insurance products that are sold through the digital or online channel. These are types of they're associated with marketing promotions.
[Foreign language]
For the enforced contracts, we did see improvements in terms of lower CSM loss or positive adjustments in CSM. This is again due to the age-specific loss ratios, also the changes to the depositor insurance assumptions. On top of that, there were efforts to enhance efficiency further to tightly manage against any CSM loss or outflow from our enforced book. That also had a partial effect in reducing the total size.
[Foreign language]
Could I just clarify whether your answer applies on a first half-year level or the second quarter? I believe I specifically was wondering about the second quarter. I would not imagine that the loss ratio by age group would have also been a big factor in the second quarter. Could you clarify?
[Foreign language]
Yes, to clarify, my answer just now was on a half-year basis. You're right, the loss ratio by age group was the big factor in the first quarter. In the second quarter, it was more from the depositor protection insurance, the assumptions, and also tighter management of lapse, which led to improvements in terms of enforced CSM.
[Foreign language]
The following question will be presented by Jiwon Choi from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead with your question.
[Foreign language]
Yes, thank you. I just want to ask a quick question about your new business CSM. In terms of your health products, it seems it's now, as of the second quarter, 85% of total new business CSM. Do you think that this level is sustainable throughout the second half of the year and also into next year? I'm interested in the company's outlook in terms of the share of health-related new business CSM. Your health CSM multiple is quite good at 16.6 x. What is the company outlook in terms of multiple for health policies versus whole life type products? Overall, what are your expectations for total new business CSM in the second half of this year and also for next year?
[Foreign language]
Yes, let me cover the first question. This is the Chief Financial Officer.
[Foreign language]
Yes, we have seen a very rapid increase in the portion of the health portfolio, and it is now up to 85% as of Q2. At this point, it's not important to boost that share any further, but to find ways to grow aggregate new business CSM as a whole. Looking out into next year, we want to maintain the portfolio at around 85%, and we will do our best to maintain that as a sustainable level.
[Foreign language]
Yes, this is Lee Dong Hoon from the channel and marketing team. Let me cover your question about our outlook for CSM multiple for health versus the death coverage products for the second half this year and next year. This year, despite significant volatility in terms of the macro, including changes to the interest rates and overall externalities, we actually worked at the full company level to boost CSM.
[Foreign language]
We are now shifting away from mortality cover, which has lower margins, while being more sensitive to changes in interest rates, to the higher margin profile health products.
[Foreign language]
As a result, we have seen significant growth in our new business CSM. It is over KRW 760 billion as of the second quarter, which breaks down to about KRW 256 billion on a monthly basis.
[Foreign language]
In terms of CSM multiple, health is 16.6 x, mortality 5 x, and for savings and annuities about 3 x.
[Foreign language]
We will continue to broaden our health sales and new health CSM to achieve CSM growth and also CSM multiple high multiple, commensurate or similar to prior year levels.
[Foreign language]
We will conclude our conference call for the second quarter 2025 for Samsung Life Insurance Co., Ltd. Please contact us at the IR team if you require further data. Thank you very much.