Final Preparations for Launch Within the Year
Seong Daegyu "Will Secure Leadership in Healthcare Sector Within 1-2 Years"
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Shinhan Life is intensifying its final preparations to establish a digital healthcare subsidiary ahead of the year-end.
According to the insurance industry on the 1st, Shinhan Life recently decided to name its digital healthcare subsidiary 'Shinhan CubeOn.' As it is expected to receive official approval for the subsidiary establishment from financial authorities as early as this month, the first healthcare subsidiary in the life insurance industry is anticipated to be launched within the year.
There are also expectations that Choi Seung-hwan, currently leading Shinhan Life's healthcare business and a former consultant at Frost & Sullivan, will be appointed as the head of the new subsidiary's Digital Innovation Group.
Shinhan Life has been laying the groundwork for digital healthcare services even before the launch of the integrated corporation. It created a healthcare business team within the Digital Innovation Group directly under CEO Sung Dae-gyu and has been introducing various healthcare businesses. The Digital Innovation Group is divided into the Digital Planning Team, Digital Innovation Team, Big Data Team, and Healthcare Business Team.
A representative service is 'HowFit,' a paid home training platform. Launched in March, HowFit uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze users' movements and provide exercise coaching services. Shinhan Life is jointly developing a service with KT that can be used on Olleh TV following mobile availability.
Additionally, Shinhan Life operates a healthcare room at the Gangnam Center in collaboration with CJ CheilJedang. Based on customer health information, it recommends suitable nutritional supplements and provides discount information on related products. This reflects the intention to utilize accumulated health data for personalized one-on-one healthcare services beyond the insurance sector into non-financial areas.
Moreover, Shinhan Life is promoting the expansion of public benefits using medical information through participation in the Busan Eco Delta Smart City demonstration project and the MyData medical sector demonstration project. In September, it signed a strategic business agreement (MOU) with healthcare service company Chang Healthcare to advance its healthcare business.
'Healthcare' Emerging as a New Growth Engine for Insurance Companies
Confident in the success of the healthcare business through these services, CEO Sung Dae-gyu declared the establishment of a healthcare subsidiary in June and decided at the board meeting in September to invest 20 billion KRW in capital for the digital healthcare subsidiary.
CEO Sung expressed his ambition, stating, "We will strive to become a top-tier Shinhan Life that secures a solid lead in the digital and healthcare fields within one to two years."
Shinhan CubeOn is expected to initially focus on acquiring customers based on the HowFit service and gradually expand its business areas. The plan is to develop it into a platform providing comprehensive health management services, offering various healthcare services to achieve the dual goals of maintaining and improving customers' health and preventing diseases.
Following KB Insurance, Shinhan Life's establishment of a healthcare subsidiary marks the digital healthcare sector as a new battleground for insurance companies. According to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, the global healthcare market is projected to grow from 100 trillion KRW in 2019 to 600 trillion KRW by 2026.
The financial authorities have also pledged active support for insurance companies entering the healthcare sector, allowing participation in open banking and supporting the provision of healthcare and nursing services. They plan to include 'health status analysis using AI and big data' and 'disease risk prediction services' as ancillary tasks for insurance companies.
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