Kyobo Life Insurance Co. obtained the maximum “AAA” rating of insurer financial strength from Korea’s top three credit rating firms – NICE Investors Service, Korea Ratings Corporation and Korea Investors Service, the Korean insurer said Thursday.

It also achieved A1 rating for four straight years from Moody’s Investors Service and A+ rating for six consecutive years from Fitch Ratings, the best among life insurers in Korea.

Three credit rating firms noted Kyobo Life Insurance’s leading brand awareness, strong capital adequacy and stable revenue generation, the insurer added.

Kyobo Life has upped the ratio of long-term damage insurance to over 50 percent on its portfolio. It also reclassified held-to-maturity securities into available-for-sale securities, leading to a rise in risk-based capital, in a preemptive move to better respond to the new International Financial Reporting Standard 17 (IFRS 17) and K-Insurance Capital Standard (K-ICS).

The ratio of risk-based capital, the minimum capital an insurer must hold to protect investors and shows its financial soundness, came at 322.1 percent as of the end of March, hovering above the average ratio of industry peers.

Meanwhile, Kyobo Life Insurance’s initial public offering and other capitalization plans have been stalled as financial investors took complaints about the insurer’s delinquent returns in their investment to the arbitration court. The ruling on average takes about a year and a half, and the proceedings could be terminated if the parties reach an out-of-court settlement.

By Lee Seung-hoon and Lee Ha-yeon

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