Hanwha Life Insurance Launches Insurance Claim Trust

On September 9, Hanwha Life Insurance announced the launch of the "Insurance Claim Trust," which allows death benefits to be paid according to the policyholder's wishes and the family's needs and circumstances as specified during their lifetime.

This trust was developed through consulting provided by the Hanwha Life Insurance Inheritance Research Institute. Customers can achieve systematic financial planning tailored to generational life plans, such as children's tuition, inheritance tax funding, and long-term living expenses.

The Insurance Claim Trust is a system in which the policyholder entrusts the insurance claim right to a trust company. Upon the policyholder's death, the trust company receives the death benefit on behalf of the beneficiaries and pays it out according to a predetermined schedule set by the policyholder while alive. Eligibility requirements include: the insured policy must provide at least 30 million won in general death coverage; the policyholder, insured, and trustor must be the same person; the beneficiary must be a direct lineal ascendant or descendant or a spouse; and there must be no policy loans on the insurance contract.

By utilizing the Insurance Claim Trust, whole life insurance can be flexibly and meaningfully upgraded to suit its intended purpose.

Systematic asset management is possible through installment payments rather than a lump sum. For example, if grandparents wish to support their grandchildren's university tuition, they can use the trust to do so. Instead of paying the death benefit as a lump sum, 100 million won in death benefits can be divided and paid out as 10 million won annually over 10 years for university tuition and living expenses until employment. During the installment period, the remaining death benefit is managed through fixed deposits or similar products, and interest is added to the final payment.

Because the death benefit can be paid to the desired family member, it can be used to protect minors, people with disabilities, or other family members in need of protection. For instance, after the policyholder's death, the trust can ensure stable payments to a minor child so that a divorced ex-spouse cannot misuse the funds. With a 500 million won death benefit, 100 million won can be paid as a lump sum for inheritance tax, and the remaining amount can be divided into monthly payments of 2 million won for about 17 years to support living expenses. A trusted family member can be designated as the trust administrator to protect the minor child's trust assets from the ex-spouse who holds parental rights.

If an existing whole life insurance policy meets the trust eligibility requirements, it can be enrolled in the Insurance Claim Trust. It is also possible to design a trust when signing up for a new insurance policy. The "Inheritance H Whole Life Insurance," launched on September 1, offers higher death benefits and lower surrender values compared to existing whole life policies, allowing for more affordable death benefit coverage. When combined with the Insurance Claim Trust, it can also be used to prepare funds for inheritance tax.

Choi Inhee, head of the Hanwha Life Insurance Inheritance Research Institute, stated, "Hanwha Life Insurance is expanding its products and consulting services to provide comprehensive asset management beyond insurance," adding, "As more customers are concerned about inheritance tax, we will offer inheritance plan design services through professional trust consulting at six Financial Advisor centers nationwide."

Meanwhile, since its launch in November 2024, the Hanwha Life Insurance Inheritance Research Institute has supported asset management across generations. It is expanding its role as a "life solution" provider, offering not only financial solutions such as asset transfer, business succession, and asset management, but also non-financial services such as next-generation customer leadership and humanities academies throughout the customer's entire life cycle.