Korea's major life insurers put AI at the center as third-generation leaders step in
Two of Korea's largest life insurers are handing more control to next-generation leaders - and they're tying that shift directly to AI and digital strategy. Hanwha Life and Kyobo Life are both moving from pilot projects to enterprise-level execution, with group structures and cross-border plays in view.
Hanwha Life: Global deals plus an AI-first operating model
Kim Dong-won, president and chief global officer at Hanwha Life and the second son of Hanwha Group's chair, has built his track record through digital strategy and overseas expansion. Since becoming president in 2023, he has pushed AI from experimentation to organization-wide capability, launching a dedicated AI Division and expanding research partnerships, including ties to global tech hubs.
Hanwha is also using M&A to broaden its financial footprint. The company completed acquisitions of Indonesia's Nobu Bank and US-based brokerage Velocity Clearing - a first for a Korean insurer in both a foreign bank purchase and entry into US securities trading.
Strategically, Hanwha Life acts as the financial control tower for the group, holding a majority stake in Hanwha General Insurance and full ownership of Hanwha Asset Management. Kim's recent stage time at Abu Dhabi Finance Week suggests a higher public profile as succession planning accelerates.
Industry watchers expect deeper moves in Indonesia and optionality around a local financial holding setup, given multi-sector regulatory pressure. Hanwha Life says it has received no formal regulatory requests and declined further comment.
Kyobo Life: AI transformation as the succession test
Kyobo Life appointed Shin Joong-ha, the 44-year-old eldest son of Chair Shin Chang-jae, to lead corporate management strategy in its year-end reshuffle. His remit includes group-wide AI transformation (AX), elevating his long-run focus on digital, data, and roles across Kyobo's IT arm, Kyobo DTS.
The AX organization, housed at Kyobo Life, will drive AI adoption across the broader Kyobo group, where the insurer holds controlling stakes in most affiliates. The message is clear: with traditional life growth slowing and nonbanks pressing in, AI is the proving ground for execution at scale. Shin's performance on AX will be watched as a marker of readiness for the top job.
Kyobo's digital agenda stretches past insurance, including participation in Circle's Arc testnet as the only Korean insurer. On ownership, regulators approved Japan's SBI Holdings as Kyobo Life's second-largest shareholder with a 20 percent stake, which, combined with Chair Shin's holdings, gives the two parties effective control. That alignment could speed movement to a financial holding company model as early as next year.
What this means for insurance operators
- Build a real AX model: Stand up a central AI office with product owners, MLOps, model risk, and data engineering under one roof. Fund it like a core system, not a pilot.
- Pick "needle-moving" use cases: Underwriting triage, claims fraud, lapse prediction, call summarization, agent copilot, and product personalization. Tie each to a P&L target and a control metric (loss ratio, conversion, NPS, average handle time).
- Engineer for trust: Model monitoring, explainability, human-in-the-loop review, and clear playbooks for fairness and data privacy. Treat model risk like credit or market risk.
- Modernize data: Event-driven pipelines, feature stores, and a clean identity graph across life, general, and asset management entities. Without this, AX stalls.
- Organize at group level: Set shared platforms and vendor standards across affiliates to avoid tool sprawl, then localize by line of business.
- Plan for structure: If a holding company path is likely, map which AI/data assets sit at holdco versus opcos. Align licenses, data residency, and capital plans early.
- Upskill the front line: Train agents, claims handlers, and underwriters to use copilots and decision support - and redesign incentives so usage sticks.
Key takeaways
Hanwha and Kyobo are moving beyond slide decks. They're wiring AI into how capital is allocated, how distribution works, and how group entities interlock - with succession as the forcing function.
For insurers, the play is clear: concentrate on a few high-impact AI programs, build the plumbing to run them safely at scale, and match organizational design to where you're headed - whether that's multi-market, multi-entity, or both.
If you're building an AX roadmap or evaluating tooling for finance and insurance, this curated list of AI tools can help benchmark options: AI tools for finance.
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