Large GAs' First-Half Commission Income Hits KRW 10.5 Trillion... Agents Top 280,000
KIAA Releases Disclosure on Large GAs for the First Half of 2026
Large general agencies (GAs) with 500 or more affiliated agents continued to grow rapidly in the first half of the year. Their commission income exceeded KRW 10 trillion, and the number of affiliated agents surpassed 280,000.
According to the “Disclosure on Large GAs for the First Half of 2026,” released on Oct. 15 by the Korea Insurance Agency Association (KIAA), there were 73 large GAs as of the end of June, up by one from the same period a year earlier.
The number of affiliated agents rose by 32,491, or 13.0%, from 249,089 to 281,580.
Commission income totaled KRW 10.4518 trillion, up 16.4% from the same period a year earlier. Commission income refers to all commissions and allowances directly related to insurance contracts.
Commission income from life insurance rose 24.8% to KRW 5.7314 trillion, while income from non-life insurance increased 7.5% to KRW 4.7204 trillion.
The amount of new contracts, measured by the initial premiums for newly recruited insurance policies, rose 17.3% from the same period a year earlier to KRW 3.6189 trillion. Life insurance increased 61.5% to KRW 1.3052 trillion, while non-life insurance rose 1.6% to KRW 2.3137 trillion.
By contrast, the number of new contracts fell 7.7%, from 9,710,000 to 8,962,000. Life insurance contracts declined 0.1% to 2,505,000, while non-life insurance contracts fell 10.4% to 6,457,000. Within non-life insurance, the number of new long-term insurance contracts dropped from 4,470,000 to 3,714,000.
The amount of new contracts per agent increased 3.7%, from KRW 12.39 million to KRW 12.85 million, while the number of new contracts per agent fell from 39 to 32.
Sales indicators improved overall. The rate of incomplete sales fell by 0.004 percentage points, from 0.027% to 0.023%. The rate for life insurance declined from 0.050% to 0.046%, while the rate for non-life insurance fell from 0.013% to 0.010%.
The 13th-month contract retention rate stood at 88.15%, up 0.34 percentage points from the same period a year earlier. The 25th-month rate rose 3.69 percentage points to 75.85%, and the 37th-month rate increased 6.23 percentage points to 61.54%. However, the 37th-month retention rate for non-life insurance fell by 0.47 percentage points to 60.25%.
The KIAA said, “Our analysis of this disclosure shows that large GAs are building a foundation to develop into a new insurance sales channel with expertise and accountability by growing their businesses and improving operational soundness.”
It also forecast that the quality of contract retention would improve further if a sales structure focused on long-term policy management takes hold following planned changes to the sales commission system, including the phased payment of commissions.
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A KIAA representative said, “We will strengthen the education and certification system for the Consumer Protection Certified Agent program to enhance agents’ expertise and make consumer protection activities more effective, from contract signing and ongoing policy management to assistance with insurance claims.” The representative added, “We also plan to gather industry views and cooperate on policy efforts to introduce a system for specialized insurance sales companies.”
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