[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Samsung Life Insurance and Hanwha Life Insurance won the 'Immediate Annuity Unpaid Amount Lawsuit.'
According to the insurance industry on the 13th, the Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 46 (Chief Judge Wonseok Lee) delivered a first-instance ruling in favor of the insurers in the lawsuit related to immediate annuity payments involving Samsung Life Insurance and Hanwha Life Insurance on the morning of the same day.
The court reportedly announced the first-instance verdicts for Samsung Life Insurance's defendant insurance claim lawsuit and Hanwha Life Insurance's plaintiff debt non-existence confirmation lawsuit respectively on that day.
However, since courts have generally ruled in favor of consumers in previous immediate annuity lawsuits, the insurance industry views this ruling as significant.
The immediate annuity unpaid amount dispute arose in 2017 when subscribers demanded that insurers pay the difference for annuities received below the minimum guaranteed interest rate.
The Financial Supervisory Service's Dispute Mediation Committee decided that insurers must pay the underpaid insurance amounts, and the FSS recommended that insurers pay the remaining subscribers accordingly. However, Samsung Life Insurance, Hanwha Life Insurance, Kyobo Life Insurance, Tongyang Life Insurance, Mirae Asset Life Insurance, and KB Life Insurance refused, leading to litigation.
The scale of the immediate annuity unpaid amount dispute identified by the FSS in 2018 was 160,000 people and 800 billion to 1 trillion KRW. Among them, Samsung Life Insurance accounted for the largest portion with 50,000 people and 400 billion KRW.
So far, first-instance rulings show that Kyobo Life Insurance, Tongyang Life Insurance, and Mirae Asset Life Insurance, excluding NH Nonghyup Life Insurance which reflected the deduction of maturity refund funds in its policy, lost their cases. Samsung Life Insurance also lost a class-action lawsuit involving 400 billion KRW in July.
All four insurers that lost have appealed the first-instance rulings.
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