"Sleeping Customer Insurance Funds of 829.3 Billion Won... Insurers Lack Effort to Return Them"

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] It has been revealed that dormant insurance funds belonging to inactive insurance customers amount to hundreds of billions of won. There are concerns that insurance companies are not making active efforts to return these funds and are instead using them for asset management to generate profits, highlighting the need for stricter oversight and regulation.

According to data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to Kang Ming-guk, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the People Power Party, the dormant insurance funds held by domestic insurance companies reached 829.3 billion won as of the end of July this year.

Dormant insurance funds refer to the funds held by insurance companies when the rightful claimants do not claim their insurance money or when the statute of limitations for claiming the insurance money has expired.

By sector, life insurance accounted for 605.4 billion won, representing 73.0% of the total dormant insurance funds, while non-life insurance amounted to 223.9 billion won.

By company, in the life insurance sector, Samsung Life Insurance held the largest amount at 155 billion won, followed by Hanwha Life Insurance with 79.4 billion won, and NH Nonghyup Life Insurance with 61 billion won. In the non-life insurance sector, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance held 28.9 billion won, Hanwha General Insurance 28.5 billion won, and Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance 28.4 billion won.

Among the dormant insurance funds held by insurance companies, 71.2%, or 590.3 billion won, are funds that rightful claimants can still claim.

Looking into the specific reasons why dormant insurance funds have not been claimed, the largest portion, 588.9 billion won (71.0%), consists of funds that rightful claimants did not receive because they were unaware of their entitlement.

Additionally, dormant insurance funds that remain unclaimed despite being payable include 900 million won (0.1%) in joint-name accounts and 500 million won (0.06%) in accounts under executive group names.

The remaining 29.2% of dormant insurance funds are cases where payment is not possible, including 201.4 billion won (24.3%) in "seized accounts," 33.3 billion won (4.0%) in "payment suspension accounts," and 7.8 billion won (0.9%) in "insurance claims under litigation or unsettled cases."

There are also concerns that insurance companies are not only insufficiently attempting to return dormant insurance funds to rightful claimants but are also managing these funds without separating them from other funds, indicating a need for improvement.

Assemblyman Kang pointed out, "Despite holding thousands of billions of won in dormant insurance funds belonging to rightful claimants, insurance companies are not managing these funds transparently and are using them to increase profits through deposits and asset management, yet they remain in a blind spot of oversight."