Steady Growth in the Funeral Service Industry Centered on Large Companies, FreedLife Maintains Top Position

The domestic funeral service market has been continuously growing, centered around large companies.

On the 8th, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (hereinafter referred to as the KFTC) announced through the "Disclosure of Major Information of Prepaid Installment Transaction Operators for the First Half of 2020" that as of the end of March this year, the number of registered funeral service companies was 84, the number of members was 6.36 million, and the advance payments amounted to 5.8838 trillion KRW.

According to this data, compared to the second half of last year, the number of companies decreased by 2, but the number of members increased by about 350,000, and advance payments increased by 298.9 billion KRW.

In particular, growth was prominent among large companies. The number of subscribers of 50 large companies with advance payments of over 10 billion KRW increased by 373,000 compared to the second half of last year, and their total advance payments amounted to 5.7994 trillion KRW, accounting for 98.6% of the total advance payments.

According to the KFTC's information disclosure, the company ranked first in total assets and advance payments was Freed Life, recording total assets of 1.0144 trillion KRW (as of the end of December 2019) and advance payments of 980 billion KRW (as of the end of March 2020).

All funeral service companies engaged in prepaid installment transactions must preserve an amount equivalent to 50% of the advance payments received from customers through mutual aid associations, bank deposits, or payment guarantees.

Seven companies have signed a "bank payment guarantee" contract, which is considered the safest method of preserving advance payments. These include Freed Life, which holds 980 billion KRW in advance payments as of the end of March, The-K Yedaham Funeral Service with 433.6 billion KRW, and Good Life with 146.6 billion KRW.

In addition, general status and financial soundness information of funeral service companies can be checked at any time on the KFTC website. The KFTC stated, "The funeral service industry is showing steady growth," and urged funeral service consumers to "check the financial information of the funeral service company they have joined, the advance payment preservation ratio, and the institution with which the advance payment preservation contract has been signed."