"You've Earned Your Wealth—Now It's Time to Use It Well"...Seniors Turning to Financial Centers Before Illness Hits [Finance Embracing Seniors] ①

2025: 10.51 Million Seniors, Projected to Reach 12.98 Million by 2030
Senior Business Competition among Financial Groups: Expanding from Asset Management to Long-Term Care, Housing, and Health
Integrated Insurance, Inheritance, and Care Consulta

Editor's NoteAs population aging accelerates, the role of financial companies is also changing. Finance, which previously focused on growing assets and preparing for risk before retirement, is now expanding into all aspects of customers' lives, including how to manage and utilize their retirement assets and prepare for health and care needs. In Korea, efforts to connect finance and senior care have begun in earnest, while overseas financial institutions are expanding services to include health, medical care, and daily life support—or even entering the care business directly. There is growing concern over how to make senior-focused businesses sustainable in a super-aged society. The Asia Business Daily is launching a three-part series examining the senior strategies of financial companies in Korea, Singapore, and Japan, looking at the current state of the convergence between finance and care—and the challenges Korea’s financial sector needs to address.

The Era of 10 Million Seniors over 65...Financial Groups Join the Senior Business

The senior business in Korea’s financial sector is rapidly shifting from a former focus on retirement asset planning or pension products to comprehensive services. Recently, there is fierce competition to build ecosystems that combine financial and non-financial services—including healthcare, care, housing, and daily living. This is because Korea has entered a super-aged society, with seniors aged 65 or older exceeding 20 percent of the population and demand for customized services according to asset size, health, and work status among senior customers has surged. In response, major financial groups are rolling out a variety of senior-focused businesses.

According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics on September 27, the number of people aged 65 or older is projected to increase from 10.51 million in 2025 to 12.98 million in 2030. Notably, as the first wave of baby boomers enters old age, the proportion of seniors in both key consumer and high-net-worth segments is rapidly rising.

The net worth held by the senior population is also increasing quickly. Assets held by those aged 65 or older accounted for 1,027 trillion won in 2012, which surged to 2,871 trillion won in 2022—representing about 27 percent of total household net assets. By 2030, assets held by seniors are expected to grow to 6,433 trillion won, accounting for 35 percent of all household net assets. The emergence of a wealthy senior demographic is powering the expansion of industries linked to seniors, far beyond just deposits and asset management.

The related market is also expanding. Hana Institute of Finance projects that Korea’s senior market will reach 215 trillion won by 2030, driven by the aging and growing assets of baby boomers. The senior care market, which focuses on care services, is also growing rapidly. According to the institute, the domestic senior care market grew from 8 trillion won in 2018 to 14.5 trillion won in 2022, registering an average annual growth rate of 15.6 percent.

Such market growth underpins the reason Korean financial holding companies are fully entering the senior business. An official at a commercial bank commented, "The senior business is an area requiring strong customer brand loyalty and face-to-face service, making it an excellent fit for the capabilities of financial holding companies."

KB Financial Group launched the senior-specialized brand ‘KB Golden Life’ in 2012, making care business a new pillar and expanding its senior business from care to finance. Its affiliate, KB Life, operates care facilities in Seoul and the metropolitan area—including Seocho, Wirye, Eunpyeong, Gwanggyo, and Gangdong—through its subsidiary KB Golden Life Care, and is pushing for a new facility in Buk Wirye Village. Recently, KB Life opened the Yeoksam Center to expand its service areas to include insurance consultation, post-retirement asset management, and care and nursing counseling.

Shinhan Financial Group is also expanding its care and senior housing business centered on Shinhan Life Care, a subsidiary dedicated to the senior sector. On September 7, Shinhan Life Care signed a financial business agreement with Nikken Sekkei—a Japanese architectural firm—to advance space design and operation models for its future senior housing facilities. The company aims to support daily life by incorporating resident-focused designs, smart healthcare technologies, and universal design. In particular, Shinhan Life Care plans to share advanced case studies from Japan and develop new domestic and international facilities.

Hana Financial Group is likewise expanding financial and care services under its senior-focused brand ‘Hana The Next’. Its subsidiary Hana The Next Life Care is building an elderly care facility in Jichuk-dong, Goyang-si, with plans to open in 2027. Hana Bank is also expanding its ‘Hana The Next Lounge’—offering consultations on asset management, inheritance and gifts, trusts, pensions, and senior housing—beyond the greater Seoul area to the provinces.

Woori Bank, under its senior-specialized brand ‘Woori Wonder Life’, provides financial services including asset management, taxation, real estate, trusts, pensions, as well as non-financial content such as health, leisure, and employment. After integrating Dongyang Life Insurance and ABL Life Insurance, Woori Financial Group is also expanding cross-affiliate collaborations, such as retirement planning consultations involving Woori Bank, Woori Investment & Securities, and its insurance subsidiaries. NH NongHyup Financial Group has strengthened its lineup of products and services for seniors through its dedicated brand ‘NH All Wonderful’—including real estate inheritance trusts, testamentary trusts, dementia, care and nursing, annuity insurance, and healthcare.

"You Don't Have to Be Sick Yet"…From Financial Centers to Care Facilities—Experience in Advance

The convergence of finance and care is already appearing in real-world financial services.

"In addition to care consultations, we offer free advice on insurance policies, finances, inheritance, and gifts. You don’t have to be sick now. Try our services before illness strikes."

On September 11, at KB Life Tower in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, The Asia Business Daily found a unique setting, quite different from a typical financial branch. The building featured spaces reproducing care facility beds and restrooms, alongside areas for insurance, asset management, and care consultations—all under one roof.

Professionals across multiple fields—insurance and asset management experts, care consultants with nursing backgrounds, tax accountants—are on site, providing counseling for senior clients. This system combines financial counseling (such as insurance policy reviews) and care consultations.

A KB Life official said, "About 90 percent of care consultation clients visit the center for general health management, while the remaining 10 percent are wealth management (WM) clients of banks and such, who inquire about entry conditions for the ‘Village’ care facility." In other words, most visitors come to the center to prepare in advance for when they or their parents may need care, rather than due to an immediate need for care services.

On the sixth floor of the center, there is the ‘AgeTechLab,’ where visitors can experience aspects of care facilities operated by KB Golden Life Care, a KB Life subsidiary. The area includes zones to try electric wheelchairs, senior technology devices, model rooms for village units, and a conference zone.

Especially notable is the model unit, which replicates a one-person room from an actual facility. The restroom is equipped with an occupancy alarm sensor to remotely detect unusual situations for seniors, such as falls. If someone enters the restroom and does not come out within a set time, an alarm sounds, enabling a swift response.

The senior technology zone features devices such as the automatic excreta disposal device ‘Curaco’, the smart fall-protection airbag belt ‘Redy’, and the smart diaper ‘Hygera’. Customers can experience moving from bed to restroom and get a sense of the care processes in advance. Even those without mobility issues can tour the facilities on behalf of their parents or family members.

Ju-Hyun Lee, a care consultant at KB Life Yeoksam Center, said, "It’s not easy for patients to gather information themselves, so we’ve designed AgeTechLab for policyholders to experience the facility on their behalf and arrange entry into a village close to the patient’s residence." She added, "The service is free for all, including KB Life policyholders and customers from other companies."

Customers can receive insurance and asset management counseling on the fifth floor, then experience care facilities on the sixth floor. The ability to access both counseling and care facility experiences in one place distinguishes the center from traditional bank branches or welfare facilities.

From Insurance, Inheritance, Gifts to Parental Care…Expanding to a “Lifetime Concierge”

On the 11th, at the KB Life Yeoksam Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, an employee is consulting with a customer. Photo by Chae-Seok Moon

On-site experts explained that “Lifetime Concierge” services, which combine health and asset management before a customer’s health declines, are expanding in real-world financial services.

With rising life expectancy, the customer management period for financial companies is lengthening. They must consider not only how to grow one’s assets but also how they’ll be spent in retirement, where clients will live, and when they will need care services.

A representative at KB Life WM Yeoksam Center said, "Anyone can receive free counseling, even if they are not an insurance subscriber. In fact, a significant portion of visitors come for their parents’ or family’s entry into the Village, or for insurance, inheritance, or gift-related counseling." The representative added, "Due to relevant laws and regulations, we do not make specific product recommendations or medical diagnoses, but provide in-depth consultations on areas where insurance coverage may be excessive or insufficient."

The range of counseling is not limited to insurance. At a single location, senior clients can address issues they might face in later life—from retirement expenses, inheritance, and gifts to real estate management and eventual admission to care facilities.

Hyodong Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of New Business Development at KB Life who oversees the Yeoksam Center, explained that the group’s push to combine finance and care was prompted by the need for “longer-term finance.” Kim said, "In the past, when average life expectancy was shorter, it was enough to manage clients until age 60. Now, the financial sector says we must take responsibility for clients until at least 80. Finance must go beyond just accumulating assets; to survive, it must enable wise spending in retirement."

The Yeoksam Center’s services were designed as a group-wide effort to connect banking, insurance, securities, and care services. Kim recalled that Hwan-Ju Lee, President of KB Kookmin Bank, played a key role in the initial planning, advocating for senior care counseling to be integrated with offline financial channels. "President Lee believed it was time for the senior care business to be given more respect," Kim explained. "He suggested that as an insurance company, we should take the initiative in counseling customers—and encouraged us to incorporate our services into bank and securities branches," Kim added.

"Just Accumulating Assets Isn't Enough"...From Building Assets to Helping Customers Use Them Well

Kim stressed that the role of financial institutions should not be limited to asset accumulation. Financial firms should proactively help customers manage their financial products, insurance coverage, assets, health, and residence before health declines.

Particularly, given the asset structure of seniors in Korea—where real estate remains dominant—he highlighted the importance of combining housing and financial planning. "For example, if a senior holds only real estate and passes away, not only might they suffer as a so-called ‘house poor’ during their lifetime, but their children could face a ‘tax bomb’ during inheritance," Kim said. "To quickly convert accumulated assets into financial assets, financial firms must actively participate in retirement housing and care planning."

The most practical challenge in expanding senior businesses is securing land and obtaining regulatory approvals. Developing care facilities requires considerable land, but land prices are high in Seoul and the metropolitan area, and the approval process is complex.

Kim explained, "Land costs account for about 30 percent of care facility business expenses. How we reduce this cost determines capital efficiency, so major financial groups are fiercely competitive in the bidding process."

Kim also pointed out that building facilities solely in outlying areas—due to cost burdens—may reduce access to major hospitals and daily life infrastructure, diluting the intended value proposition of "premium finance and care integrated services."

Looking ahead, KB Life intends to expand financial and care concierge centers like Yeoksam Center nationwide, as well as strengthen its caregiver training and "KB Golden Life ON" platform business. Kim stated, "Our medium- to long-term mission at KB Life is to scale up these group-wide financial and care concierge centers to a national level." An increasing awareness is spreading that financial companies must manage not only clients' "money" in retirement, but their entire "lives." In an age where the performance of finance is no longer measured just by how much wealth is built, the ability to help clients spend their accumulated assets for a healthy and secure retirement has become the new competitive edge.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.