[비즈니스포스트] “In a hyper-aging environment, consumer demand for retirement income security and health security is great, but the means for insurance companies to respond to this are very limited. “A fundamental review is needed.”
Insurance Research Institute President Ahn Cheol-kyung said this at a press conference held at the Insurance Research Institute in Yeouido, Seoul on the 30th, saying that the ability to respond to changes in demographic structure can be a way to overcome the low-growth crisis in the insurance industry.
▲ Insurance Research Institute President Ahn Cheol-kyung is explaining the Insurance Research Institute’s tasks this year at a press conference. <보험연구원>
At each annual meeting, the Insurance Research Institute introduces the situations faced by insurance companies and the research tasks set accordingly, and this year’s theme was ‘Population Structure Change’.
At the meeting that day, Director Ahn continued his detailed explanation by adding specific measures to the insurance products needed in the age of super-aging and the role of insurance companies.
Director Ahn said, “The situation continues where insurance companies are unable to supply appropriate pension products,” and “the majority of retirement pensions are being transferred to individual retirement pensions (IRPs) and then converted to lump sums.”
He added, “If the pension period is more than 20 years, there is a need to review ways to provide more tax benefits and force conversion of IRP to pension.”
Director Ahn is the only former president of the Korea Insurance Research Institute who came from within the company. As he has been watching current issues related to the insurance industry for a long time, Director Ahn’s voice was powerful in emphasizing the speed of population structure change and the resulting changes in the roles of insurance companies.
Data from the Korea Insurance Research Institute also supports Director Ahn’s opinion.
The Insurance Research Institute observed, “Considering that the population is aging at an unprecedented rate, (2024) is a time when we must actively take on various challenges to secure future growth and profitability.”
Currently, Korea’s birth rate is 0.7, the lowest in history as well as the world’s lowest, while the proportion of the elderly population is steadily increasing. As of 2023, the population aged 65 or older accounts for 19.0% of the total.
If the proportion of the population aged 65 or older is more than 7%, it is classified as an aging society, if it is more than 14%, it is classified as an aged society, and if it is more than 20%, it is classified as a super-aged society. Korea is expected to enter a super-aging society by 2025.
Ultimately, the demand for pension insurance products that will ensure a stable retirement life is bound to increase, but the social safety net for retirement life is not tight.
▲ This year, the Insurance Research Institute will conduct research on insurance demand amid population changes represented by super-aging. <비즈니스포스트>
Director Ahn said, “In developed countries, the pension income replacement rate is at least 60%, but Korea’s national pension has an income replacement rate of 40% assuming 40 years of subscription, so the gap of more than 20% must be covered by private pension.” He added, “Korea’s pension policy. “We are focusing on raising a lump sum rather than the income replacement rate,” he said.
In addition, he emphasized that in terms of a safety net for retirement life, it is necessary to take measures to enable insurance companies to simultaneously engage in new businesses related to retirement life, such as nursing and nursing care.
Director Ahn graduated from the Department of Sociology at Yonsei University and served as an advisory member of the Insurance Division of the Financial Supervisory Advisory Committee, head of the trend analysis team at the Korea Insurance Development Institute, head of the Financial Policy Office at the Korea Insurance Research Institute, director of the Research Coordination Office, and vice president.
In 2019, he became the first person from within the company to become the president of the Insurance Research Institute, and in 2022, he became the first president of the insurance institute to be reappointed. Reporter Jo Hye-kyung
2024-01-30 08:00:56
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