Commission income at South Korea's large general agencies (GAs), independent firms that sell insurance products from multiple insurers, topped 10 trillion won ($7 billion) in the first half of this year. The number of affiliated agents also surpassed 280,000, extending the sector's expansion.
The Korea GA Association said on the 15th that the 73 large GAs with at least 500 agents each earned 10.45 trillion won in commission income in the first half, up 16.4% from a year earlier. Life insurance commissions rose 24.8% to 5.73 trillion won, while non-life commissions gained 7.5% to 4.72 trillion won.
Sales organizations also grew. The number of affiliated agents reached 281,580, up 13.0% from a year earlier.
New policy counts fell even as premium volumes rose. New contracts totaled 8.96 million in the first half, down 7.7% from a year earlier. By contrast, new business measured by first-year premiums climbed 17.3% to 3.62 trillion won. Life insurance new business surged 61.5% to 1.31 trillion won, while non-life new business edged up just 1.6% to 2.31 trillion won.
The incomplete-sales ratio, which tracks policies canceled or revised because of improper selling, stood at 0.023%, down 0.004 percentage point from a year earlier. The 13th-month policy persistency rate rose 0.34 percentage point to 88.15%, and the 25th-month rate climbed 3.69 percentage points to 75.85%.