Seoul: Insurance companies in South Korea saw their combined net profit fall 15 percent from a year earlier in the first three quarters of the year due largely to increased loss rates and costs, data showed Wednesday. The combined net profit of 22 life insurers and 31 non-life insurance companies here came to 11.2 trillion won (US$7.67 billion) in the January-September period, down 2.02 trillion won from the same period last year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the on-year decline was attributed to a rise in loss rates and increased costs, as noted by the financial watchdog. Life insurance firms' net profit fell 8.3 percent on-year to 4.83 trillion won in the first nine months, with that of non-life insurers dipping 19.6 percent to 6.46 trillion won over the cited period.

The companies' insurance premium income reached 183.38 trillion won in the January-September period, representing an increase of 8.4 percent, or 14.19 trillion won, from a year earlier. Despite this rise in premium income, the firms faced challenges as their return on assets stood at 1.16 percent at end-September, down 0.27 percentage point from a year earlier. Similarly, their return on equity slipped 1.02 percentage points to 10.26 percent.

As of end-September, the total assets of the insurance companies amounted to 1,327 trillion won, marking an increase of 4.6 percent, or 58.3 trillion won, from a year earlier, as per the data.