[Sponsored Report] Samsung subsidiary blazes insurance trail in China

Members of Samsung Property and Casualty Insurance Company China’s customer satisfaction committee gather at a launch event. They will work together to ensure that the company has a smooth debut in the lucrative Chinese market.

Samsung Property and Casualty Insurance Company China celebrated the launch of its maiden insurance product in the Chinese market on May 8 after entering the country’s direct automobile insurance industry last year as the first Korean player.

The product launch is especially remarkable since Samsung is just the sixth foreign group to enter the market since rules were relaxed by the Chinese Insurance Regulatory Commission.

The property insurance market was estimated to be worth 84 trillion won ($75 billion) in 2011, and the size continues to grow by 14 percent every year. It is predicted to expand to as much as 267 trillion won, making it the largest in Asia and second largest in the world. The car insurance market, which the company entered this month, accounts for 74 percent of the property insurance market.

Along with the existing brand reliability of other Samsung subsidiaries, the insurance company has designated customer satisfaction as its first priority and organized a committee on the matter in March.

Headed by Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission Secretary General Zhao Jiao Li, other members include nine customer panelists and five executives from the Korean parent company Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance.

“As a Chinese consumer, I appreciate a management philosophy that puts customer satisfaction as a top priority,” Zhao said. “We will do our best to help the company be welcomed by the Chinese.”

The group aims to establish a customer-centered corporate culture by actively reflecting customers’ voices. It will mainly analyze recurrent service problems and other cases of dissatisfaction.?

The new product is a localized model of Anycar Direct, online car insurance currently sold in Korea. It will be available at branches in Shanghai and Suzhou immediately and will later expand to all areas in China.

Samsung has the largest business network in the nation among property insurance firms. Based on its stable risk management and outstanding results over the last eight years in China, the company has received an A grade for five consecutive years from Standard & Poor’s.

“Based on the customer satisfaction know-how that we have accumulated in Korea, we will work hard to become a respected insurance company,” said Kim Chang-soo, the company’s president and CEO.