SEOUL, Insurance companies in South Korea saw their net profit jump 45.5 percent from a year earlier in 2023 on increased sales, data showed Tuesday. The combined net profit of 22 life insurers and 31 non-life insurance companies here came to 13.35 trillion won (US$9.96 billion) last year, according to the preliminary data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The financial regulator partly attributed the on-year increase to new accounting regulations that allowed insurance firms to include liability reserves as part of their earnings. The net income of life insurance firms surged 37.6 percent on-year to 5.09 trillion won in 2023, with that of non-life insurers soaring 50.9 percent to 8.26 trillion won. The insurance companies' premium income slipped 6 percent on-year to 237.6 trillion won, but their return on assets gained 0.4 percentage point to 1.09 percent while their return on equity dipped 0.2 percentage point to 8.02 percent. The companies' total assets stood at 1,224.6 trillion won as of end-2023, down 85 trillion won, or 6.5 percent, from a year earlier. Source: Yonhap News Agency