Samsung Life Insurance:Investment sentiment up sharply in 1Q

WHAT’S THE STORY?

    1Q review: Samsung Life on May 12 reported that its net profit attributable tocontrolling interests fell 54.3% y-y to an in-line KRW566.3b in 1Q. The figure would be13.7% higher than the normalized figure for 1Q16—if excluding a one-off gain ofKRW741.9b from a bargain purchase of shares in Samsung Card—as its investment yieldedged up 0.1%pts y-y to 4.1% on hikes of KRW80b each from Samsung Electronics (SEC)dividends and real estate disposal gains. The insurer’s loss and expense ratios increased arespective 0.9% and 0.6%pts y-y to 81.8% and 7.1% for the quarter, while its first-yearpremiums rose 8.9% y-y to KRW1.7t amid general account premium growth.