BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance launches ‘Simplified Issue Loan Safe Protection Insurance (NP)’, a creditor insurance policy available regardless of the applicant’s medical history.
South Korea has recently entered a ‘super-aging society’, with individuals aged 65 and older now accounting for over 20% of the population . As life expectancy rises, so too does the demand for insurance, driven by higher incidences of cancer and hospitalization due to age-related illnesses. In addition, with Korean household debt exceeding twice the average income and reaching KRW 91.28 million , there is a growing need for financial safeguards, particularly in ensuring loan repayment in consideration of an extended retirement period.
‘Simplified Issue Loan Safe Protection Insurance (NP)’ guarantees loan repayment within the agreed insurance amount in the event of an insurance accident, such as death due to illness or accident, through a CPI Service Rider. In addition, by simplifying the contract review process, it lowers the barrier to entry for individuals with a medical history. Even with a medical history, eligibility remains possible as long as there is no record of:
- Hospitalization, surgery, or additional examination (re-examination) within 3 months,
- Hospitalization or surgery history due to illness or accident within 2 years, and diagnosis of cancer,
- Hospitalization or surgery due to cancer within 5 years.
This new product offers a solution for those who previously faced challenges enrolling in CPI, allowing them to secure loan repayment in the event of an unforeseen or unexpected accident.
Jeong Hwan Lee, Head of Product Development at BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance, said, “There is a growing interest in creditor insurance among borrowers who have increased burden amid the high-interest rate situation. Despite the new changes in a super-aging society, we will continue to make our efforts to improve the accessibility of insurance so that more customers can prepare for loan repayment without rejection due to age or medical history.”
The face amount of ‘Simplified Issue Loan Safe Protection Insurance (NP) can be set from KRW 5 million to a maximum of KRW 300 million, and the policy period and payment period option can be set as 5/10/15/20/25/30 years. If a 40-year-old male is insured up to KRW 100 million with a 20-year policy period, the monthly premium is KRW 33,500 (40-year-old male with the face amount of KRW 100 million, 20-year policy period, 20-year payment period, monthly payment).
Depending on their situation, customers with a loan can choose type 1 (fixed type), while those without a loan, but wishing to prepare for future financial needs, can choose type 2 (optional type).
The product is available through the general agency (GA) channel starting from today.
Meanwhile, BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance, a leader in creditor life insurance in the Korean market for over 20 years, remains committed to raising awareness of the advantages of creditor insurance. As part of its efforts, the company offers ‘Credit Care Guide’ featuring valuable resources to support wise credit management, and ‘Credit Care Academy’ which provides economic education on credit management to support the financially vulnerable, reflecting its dedication to corporate social responsibility.
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance announced that it will start offering the group creditor insurance ‘Mirae Asset Capital Home Safe Plan’ to improve the housing stability of rental tenants from Nov 4.
Two companies signed a partnership to activate creditor insurance in September, and as the first collaboration, they introduced a group creditor insurance service for rental housing tenants for the first time in the secondary financial sector. While the housing stability of the vulnerable is greatly threatened by high interest rates, inflation, and housing fraud, it is part of the joint inclusive finance practice at the level of the secondary financial sector to share the pain of rental housing tenants and support housing stability.
Customers can benefit from the Home Safe Plan service with a simple agreement, and they can prepare for the risk of non-repayment in advance since this group creditor service will repay the remaining loan balance and overdue interest of up to KRW 50 million in case of death or being diagnosed with more than 80% of disability during the service period. As Mirae Asset Capital pays 100% of the insurance premium, customers have no burden to pay the premium.
In addition, since the tenant himself or the bereaved family members are not asked for the right to indemnity, they can maintain the daily life without debt inheritance, and there is no burden of inevitably moving during the rental housing period, which contributes to the improvement of the overall housing stability of the vulnerable groups.
Jonathan Oh, the President and CEO of BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance said, “Recently, the Financial Services Commission announced that it aims to improve the economic recovery of borrowers and the recovery value of creditors based on debt settlement between financial companies and debtors through the implementation of the Personal Debtor Protection Act, which is in line with the ultimate goal of creditor insurance, which seeks to function as a social safety net as a ‘loan safety net’. We hope that the ‘Home Safe Plan’ will support the financial authorities’ efforts by improving the soundness of the loan and preemptively preventing individual default, and help to achieve the win-win situation between borrowers and creditors”.
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance, which has been leading the domestic creditor insurance market for more than 20 years, is putting effort to enhance the awareness of creditor insurance in Korea. The company operates ‘Credit Care Guide’, which gives useful information on wise credit management, and the ‘Credit Care Academy’, focusing on financial education on credit management for the financially vulnerable. It will also start a quiz event at the official Instagram account from Nov 4.
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance announced that it has signed a new partnership on August 30 with Mirae Asset Capital to launch the creditor insurance to improve housing stability for rental tenants.
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance is the life insurance subsidiary of BNP Paribas Cardif in Korea, the insurance arm of BNP Paribas. With the global headquarter’s expertise as a world leader in creditor insurance, the company has been leading the domestic creditor insurance market for more than 20 years. Mirae Asset Capital is a credit finance company that provides a variety of loan products, including lease deposit loan, and is expanding supply chain finance for socially vulnerable groups as part of its ESG management.
According to the <2022 Housing Condition Survey> released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT), 96.0% of households living in public rental housing were satisfied with the housing support program, citing ‘affordable rent fee (50.4%)’ and ‘not having to move frequently (38.1%)’ as the reasons. As such, ‘housing stability’ is a fundamental factor that sustains the daily lives of tenants of public and private rental housing, but in the event of an unexpected accident, the tenant may face the failure of lease deposit loan repayment, and the stability of the tenant or the bereaved family may be threatened. In consideration of this, the two companies agreed to work together with the aim of strengthening the housing stability of the socially vulnerable at the level of private sectors in line with the government’s stance to expand the supply of rental housing.
Through this partnership, the two companies will promote joint inclusive finance practices as part of ESG management, by providing creditor insurance to the mortgage customers of Mirae Asset Capital with lease deposit loan.
Jonathan Oh, the President and CEO of BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance said, “Recently, the housing stability of the socially vulnerable has been greatly threatened by high interest rates, inflation, and housing fraud. The two companies, which have expertise in the areas of capital and insurance respectively, have joined hands to share the pain of the financially vulnerable. We are discussing various ways to strengthen the housing safety net by offering creditor insurance so that tenants can maintain their daily lives with their families in their precious homes even after the loan execution.”
“CREDITOR INSURANCE, A SAFETY NET TO SUPPORT PEOPLE
PURSUING THEIR PERSONAL PROJECTS”
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance announced that BNP Paribas Cardif released the latest result of an international survey “Protect & Project oneself” which examined consumer satisfaction with insurance coverage and changes in their perception of loan and creditor insurance.
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance is the life insurance subsidiary of BNP Paribas Cardif in Korea, the insurance arm of BNP Paribas, and a world leader in creditor insurance.
The survey was conducted by Ipsos, a global marketing research company, on 21,000 people in 21 countries on three continents (Europe, Latin America, and Asia). The survey, which addresses global consumers’ perceptions of protection insurance, especially for the creditor insurance, is now in its fourth time since the survey began in 2008.
A growing need for protection in the face of multiples crises
Results of the 2024 survey show that people are slightly less concerned about unforeseen life events than in 2021. However, the degree of concerns remains above levels measured in 2019. Although the world is gradually recovering from the pandemic, other crises remain, and inflation worries have replaced fears related to Covid since 2022. At the same time, at the global level, 79% of respondents in the survey say they are particularly concerned about international conflicts, 76% about climate change, 75% by the drop in purchasing power, 69% by the unemployment. Particularly,unemployment is the top concern in Latin America and Asia (86% and 71% of respondents, respectively).
With regards to unforeseen life events, loss of income remains a major source of concern for three-quarters of the global population, analyzing that it is derived from the macroeconomic situation of inflation. In particular, about half of global respondents said they would not be able to maintain their standard of living in case of unexpected life events such as death, a job loss, or time off work for health reasons.As more time passes since the health crisis, worries about health have diminished, but still remain higher than in 2019. Concerns regarding depression rose worldwide, cited by 62% of those interviewed.
Lastly, while the percentage of people who feel they are sufficiently protected against unforeseen events continues to rise – reaching nearly two-thirds of the population in the 2024 survey (+2pts vs. 2021 ; +6pts vs. 2019) – only 14 % of respondents say they feel “very well protected”, suggesting that the current level of protection insurance coverage is insufficient. At the same time, expectations in terms of protection continue to climb in all three regions, particularly for issues related to mental health (+5pts vs. 2021) and death (+3pts vs. 2021).
Meanwhile, a majority (6 out of 10 South Koreans) think that they would not be able to maintain their standards of living or that of their family in case of different unexpected life events, such as death, a job loss, or time off work for health reasons. In this context, the social benefits are not considered powerful enough to bridge this gap. Also, South Koreans have a more pessimistic perception regarding the existing protections compared to other Asian countries, showing only 7% of respondents saying that they feel “very well protected”. The main risks against which South Koreans would like to be better protected are financial loss and job loss, indicating that the need for protection insurance coverage has become even greater amid the post-pandemic multiple crises.
Creditor insurance supports return to plans for personal projects
In 2024, personal projects and the need to finance them have once again become a priority, and the number of people who plan to resort to credit has increased across all geographies. The percentage of the population ready to resort to credit for a real estate acquisition has returned to pre-Covid levels (69%, +9pts vs. 2021), as has the number of people with plans to buy a car (55%, +9pts vs. 2021). The main purpose of loans cited by South Korean respondents is “Purchasing a property (55%, +7pts compared to 2021)”, with the proportion of household loans related to real estate still the highest.
In this context, ‘Creditor insurance’ is viewed as a useful solution by global respondents to help them move forward with their life plans. Respondents believe that these insurance products encourage them to pursue their projects while looking to the future with serenity. When asked “Have you ever heard of creditor insurance, which covers the repayment of a loan in the event of an unexpected life event or accident?”, 66% of global respondents said “they have heard of it”. Creditor insurance in particular is seen as a solution that lets people retain ownership of property (82% agree).
Korean respondents’ awareness and subscription rate for creditor insurance is still low, but it has continued to improve. The number of Korean respondents who answered the question “Have you ever heard of creditor insurance, which covers the repayment of a loan in the event of an unexpected life event or accident?” increased to 41% (2019), 46% (2021), and 48% (2024), while the proportion of respondents who said they had purchased creditor insurance increased to 9%, 11%, and 12%, respectively. For the benefits of creditor insurance, Korean respondents say that this product lets peoplemaintain their standard of living (80%),protect their family (80%), preserve what they own (79%), ensure security when they take out a loan (77%) and reassure and provide them with peace of mind (76%).
Jonathan Oh, the President and CEO of BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance said, “It is a time when global consumers, who are facing multiple crises such as inflation, are once again pursuing their personal projects and realize their goals after Covid-19 despite the difficulties of managing household finances. The unmet needs in coverage for mortgage loan, which accounts for the largest share of the household economy, is still unfamiliar to us, but many advanced countries such as France, Germany, and Japan are filling those gap through creditor insurance. It is encouraging to see that the awareness and subscription rate of creditor insurance in Korea are continuously increasing”.
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance, which has been leading the way in building a healthy loan ecosystem by providing creditor life insurance, provides an integrated ‘Credit Care Program’ to support for credit management. Under the program, ‘Credit Care Guide’ offers useful information for credit management and ‘Credit Care Academy’ provides credit management economic education for the financially vulnerable, such as middle school students and seniors.
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance today announced the launch of ‘Signature CEO Term Life Insurance Plus (NP)’, a coverage plan in case of the absence of CEO.
In the face of persistently high interest rates, corporate credit leverage (corporate credit-to-GDP) reached its highest level ever last year, and the volume of self-employed loans exceeded KRW 1,000 trillion, with delinquency rates rising steeply. With the burden of interest payments on a company’s balance sheet, the unexpected absence of a CEO can lead to a number of risks that threaten the company’s existence. Therefore, it is essential to have safeguards in place to protect against the risks of CEO absence. [YHK1]
‘Signature CEO Term Life Insurance Plus (NP)’ is an incremental product that offers increased amount of benefit as the time passes. The Signature CEO Term Life Insurance Plus (NP) is characterized by the addition of the ‘Insurance Risk Score (IRS) Discount Rider II’ and the ‘Plus Savings Rider’ to the ‘Signature CEO Termlife Insurance’ launched in 2020, which enhances the credit management features as well as the ability to pay and accumulate extra funds that can be utilized when needed in the future. The products are now available on the general agency (GA) channel, partnered with BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance.
Subscribers can choose from 4 increasing rate options of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, depending on their financial situation, and death benefit increases accordingly 10 years after the subscription date. For example, if a customer subscribed of 5% increasing rate at the age of 40 with maturity age of 90, coverage amount of KRW 100 million, the death benefit increases by 5% annually up to KRW 3 billion.
The ‘IRS Discount Rider II’, which applies a discount rate based on the insured’s insurance risk score index, provides a discount of up to 5% on the main contract premium, and the ‘Plus Saving Rider’ allows customers to save the discounted premium along with the additional premiums paid at a disclosed interest rate, allowing them to utilize their funds more flexibly in the future.
Chul Kwon Choi, Head of General Agency Business at BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance, said “Signature CEO Term Life Insurance Plus (NP) is a product that helps CEOs ensure business continuity in the event of an unexpected management absence, allowing them to continue to build on their company’s success. With its incremental structure and enhanced capital utilization, we hope it will help business owners appropriately control the challenges of high interest rates”.
Entry age of ‘(NP) Signature CEO Termlife Insurance’ is from 25 to 70, and payment term options are available for 5/7/10/15/20 years, and whole period. Range of face amount is up to KRW 2 billion, and premium of 40 year-old male for 5% increasing rate is KRW 232,600 (face amount of KRW 100 million, maturity age of 90, whole period, monthly premium frequency).
*Source: Bank of Korea, <Financial Stability Report> (2023.12)
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance announced that it is working with the Senior Financial Education Council (SFEC), a non-profit corporation under the Financial Services Commission (FSC), to carry out the ‘Senior Credit Care Academy’ to strengthen seniors’ digital finance and credit management capabilities.
Since 2019, BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance and SFEC have been conducting the ‘Senior Dream High’ program, providing a digital financial education to improve the senior’s literacy in financial area and to protect the rights and interests of seniors as financial consumers for 5 consecutive years.
The ‘Senior Credit Care Academy’ provided a total of 20 offline lectures from last November to March this year for participants including the members of SFEC partner organizations such as Senior Welfare Center and Libraries located in Seoul area, as well as BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance’s policyholder above the age of 50. During some of the lectures, the participants get to practice what they learnt with the BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance employee volunteers.
Lectures are provided by professional instructors on the most needed 5 topics for the elderly such as ▲how to use mobile banking, ▲how to use integrated account information management, ▲how to prevent financial fraud, ▲credit management to protect myself, and ▲how to prevent economic abuse and financial exclusion. Especially, the credit management section deals with the wise credit and debt management methods under the high interest rate, and creditor life insurance as a way to prevent the risk of the debt inheritance and non-payment of loans.
Jonathan Oh, the President and CEO of BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance, said, “With the recent acceleration of digital transformation across the financial industry, it’s more important than ever to pay attention to the needs of senior consumers who may otherwise be marginalized. Through this program, we hope to empower senior financial consumers with digital financial capabilities and help them lead confident and smart financial lives in a changing environment.”
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance, which has been leading the way in building a healthy loan ecosystem by providing creditor life insurance, provides an integrated ‘Credit Care Program’ to support for credit management. Under the program, ‘Credit Care Guide’ offers useful information for credit management and ‘Credit Care Academy’ provides credit management economic education for the financially vulnerable, such as middle school students and seniors.
BNP Paribas announces the appointment of Dorothée Regazzoni as the Head of Territory for South Korea and CEO of BNP Paribas S.A., Seoul branch, effective 1 March 2024.
Dorothée will be responsible for managing the bank’s overall activities in Korea. She will report to Paul Yang, CEO of BNP Paribas Asia Pacific.
Paul Yang said: “South Korea is an important market for BNP Paribas where we support several strategic clients internationally. With Dorothée’s deep understanding of corporate and institutional banking and extensive experience in various industries, we are confident that BNP Paribas’ Korean business will further develop under her leadership. I would also like to thank Aymar for his strong leadership during his tenure as the Head of Territory for South Korea and look forward to his continued support for our Korean business in his new and enlarged role.”
Dorothée is a corporate banking expert with over 25 years of experience. She joined the BNP Paribas Group in 2009 as a senior banker at BNP Paribas Switzerland and has since held various executive positions across the corporate banking business in Europe. Most recently, she was Global Head of Multinational Corporate Coverage, Corporate and Institutional Banking (CIB) based in BNP Paribas Headquarters in Paris.
Prior to joining BNP Paribas Group, she was a senior banker in corporate and investment banking at Citigroup Switzerland. She holds an MBA degree from the University in St. Gallen.
Dorothée succeeds Aymar de Liedekerke Beaufort who has relocated to Hong Kong and assumed the role of Head of Global Banking, Asia Pacific.
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance, subsidiary of BNP Paribas Cardif in Korea the insurance arm of BNP Paribas, announces that it is currently providing ‘(NP) Premium Wealth Management ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) Variable Life Insurance 2.0’ through Woori Bank.
(NP) Premium Wealth Management ETF Variable Life Insurance 2.0 is a product that invests in ETF, which are constantly being selected and interested by investors due to the advantage of efficient diversified investment. It provides both Active and Passive ETFs in one product, helping them to flexibly utilize and respond to highly volatile market conditions.
In addition, when choosing an ETF Managed Portfolio (EMP) investment, which is provided as one of a total of 11 by combining ETF investment strategies and customers’ investment preferences, the fund will automatically change every month according to the fund allocation information of Samsung Asset Management, which holds the No. 1 ETF market share in Korea. This reduces concerns about changing funds that meet market conditions that are difficult for individual investors to do themselves and enables easy and convenient asset management.
Bongsoo Park, Chief Sales Officer (CSO) of BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance, said, “Premium Wealth Management ETF Variable Life Insurance 2.0 is a product that incorporates our accumulated ETF variable insurance expertise with Woori Bank’s customer preferences, and hopefully it will be a new alternative for Woori Bank customers who are looking for long-term investment solutions in the volatile market. We also hope that this will help Woori Bank to strengthen its competitiveness in bancassurance products, where it has been recently reinforcing the WM sector.”
Premium Wealth Management ETF Variable Life Insurance 2.0 can be subscribed from the age of 15 to 75, starting with a single premium of KRW 50 million or regular premium of KRW 300,000.
Meanwhile, BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance is also holding a subscription event to provide department store voucher worth KRW 30,000 to new policyholders who subscribe to variable insurance at banks where they formed a bancassurance sales partnership with the company until the end of February.
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance has announced that it has conducted employee volunteer activities with the NGO ‘Forest of Life’, an environmental organization specializing in forests, to hang birdhouses in the urban areas to preserve biodiversity.
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance is the life insurance subsidiary of BNP Paribas Cardif in Korea, the insurance arm of BNP Paribas.
The ‘Green Leader Program’ is a mid- to long-term corporate social responsibility initiative that BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance has been conducting for 13 consecutive years with the aim of cultivating a sustainable local community through the expansion of green spaces in urban areas and environmental protection activities.
The company’s employee volunteers installed homemade birdhouses in an urban park in Yangcheon-gu area. Employees volunteers learnt how birdhouses support the stable reproduction of small creatures living in the city center and provide shelter for them in the winter season. This activity create a healthy ecosystem where nature and humans coexist.
Jonathan Oh, the President and CEO of BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance said, “This year, the Green Leader Program went a step further in its goal of expanding green spaces in urban areas and focused on biodiversity conservation, which is at risk due to urbanization and climate change. We are pleased that our 13 years of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) practice as a responsible financial company has enabled us to provide timely support to help create sustainable communities in a changing environment.”
Meanwhile, in March this year, BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance organized volunteer activities at the Seoul National School for the Deaf to create a social welfare forest, including cleaning up forest paths and creating a community garden. In the first half of next year. The company also plans to support activities to create a new social welfare forest.
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance announces that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Fount Finance, a mortgage fintech company, to activate credit life insurance with the aim of improving loan management services in the mortgage sector. The two companies plan to establish a cooperative business model for credit life insurance in Korea.
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance is the life insurance subsidiary of BNP Paribas Cardif in Korea, the insurance arm of BNP Paribas, and a world leader in creditor insurance. Fount Finance is a subsidiary of Fount, which leads the domestic robo-advisor market. Fount Finance’s on/offline mortgage loan comparison service was recognised as innovative finance by the Financial Services Commission in June.
Through this business agreement, the two companies plan to improve loan management services in the housing mortgage loan sector, which account for the largest share of household assets and support customers’ safe loan repayment journey. Fount Finance will provide customized mortgage loan comparative estimate services to users and help them with the safe loan repayment process using its ‘on-offline mortgage loan comparison platform. In the process, Fount Finance will link BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance’s credit life insurance in its service to guide users to safely repay their loans in the event of an unexpected accident.
Jonathan Oh, the President and CEO of BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance said, “The core of this business agreement is to create a healthier loan ecosystem by linking ‘Credit Life Insurance’, that supports asset maintenance with loan safety net, and ‘Housing Mortgage Loan Comparison Platform’, that improves customer accessibility. The two companies plan to activate credit life insurance as a basic measure to hedge the increased risk of outstanding loans due to expanded credit amid high-interest rates, and act as a protective mechanism for the financial consumers. We hope that this collaboration to provide a quick and appropriate customer protection measure will be a good example of innovative financial service that has been given the opportunity to test the market for a certain period of time in recognition of its innovation.”
Meanwhile, BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance, which has been providing creditor insurance in Korea for more than 20 years, operates the Credit Care Program to provide integrated support for credit management. This program includes the ‘Credit Care Guide’, which gives useful information on safe borrowing and wise credit management, and the ‘Credit Care Academy’, focusing on financial education on credit management for the financially vulnerable.