'Insurance Nobel Prize' Winner Shin Chang-jae: "Life Insurance is a Story of Love"

Awarded the 'Insurance Hall of Fame Laurel Award' in Singapore
"We must change the practice that has been reduced to just talking about insurance money"

Shin Chang-jae, CEO and Chairman of Kyobo Life Insurance, received the 'Insurance Hall of Fame Laurel Award,' regarded as the Nobel Prize of the insurance industry. He made history as the first father-son duo worldwide to receive this honor, following the late Shin Yong-ho, founder of Kyobo Life Insurance.

Kyobo Life Insurance announced on the 7th that Chairman Shin was awarded the '2023 Insurance Hall of Fame Laurel Award' at the 2023 Global Insurance Forum hosted by the International Insurance Society (IIS) held in Singapore on the 6th (local time). He is the second Korean to receive this award, following his father.

The 'Insurance Hall of Fame Laurel Award' is known as the 'Nobel Prize of Insurance.' Established in 1957 to honor individuals who have contributed to the development of the insurance industry through innovative activities, the achievements and management philosophies of the recipients are permanently preserved in the Hall of Fame. Chairman Shin became the world’s first father-son businesspersons to be inducted together into the Hall of Fame, following his father, founder Shin Yong-ho, in 1996.

At the award ceremony, Chairman Shin shared his journey as the CEO of Kyobo Life Insurance over the past 23 years and expressed his gratitude. He said, "My fate, having been a medical professor and then following my late father’s will to dedicate my life to the life insurance industry, is more rewarding and proud than anything else," adding, "Life insurance is the most beautiful financial system that practices the spirit of mutual aid, where people help those in hardship with love."

He also expressed his views on the challenges of the Korean insurance market and its social role. Chairman Shin stated, "Most life insurers seem to overlook the beautiful spirit of insurance and focus excessively on new contract sales competition and profit realization, resulting in the persistence of incomplete sales," and added, "I am concerned that such practices may undermine the fundamental role of insurers to guarantee customers’ future risks."

Chairman Shin emphasized that the life insurance system is essentially a 'story of people’s love.' He said, "Unfortunately, in Korea today, most insurers, financial planners, and customers are only interested in making money, which ultimately distorts it into a 'money story,'" and pledged, "I will work to widely promote that life insurance is a financial system operated with the spirit of love and ensure that life insurers faithfully operate as social welfare and financial systems."

In response, Josh Landau, CEO of IIS, praised, "Chairman Shin embodied the spirit of the 'Insurance Hall of Fame' through transformative innovation, insightful leadership, and people-centered management." Yoshitaka Kitao, Chairman of Japan’s SBI Holdings, congratulated, saying, "Chairman Shin’s induction into the Insurance Hall of Fame following his father is a great achievement that transcends the Korean insurance industry and marks a milestone for the Asian insurance industry."