[THE INVESTOR] The combined net profit of insurance firms in Korea for the first nine months of this year rose 14.9 percent on-year, thanks to a hefty gain in their dividend income, data showed on Nov. 16.

Insurance firms saw their combined net profit rise by 955.5 billion won (US$862 million) to 7.34 trillion won for the January-September period, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service .

The combined net income of life insurers gained 13.3 percent on-year to 3.8 trillion won, while that of non-life insurers climbed 16.8 percent to 3.5 trillion won, the data showed.

“When it comes to life insurance companies, premium income decreased 4.5 percent while claims paid increased, which contributed to declining insurance income,” the FSS said in a statement.

“However, growing dividend income led to an increase in investment income of life insurers,” it said.

At the end of September this year, the total assets of insurers stood at 1,092 trillion won, or up 6.7 percent from a year ago, according to the data.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)