3.16 Insurance Contracts
KB Life Insurance Co., Ltd., and KB Insurance Co., of the subsidiaries of the Group, issues insurance contracts.
Insurance contracts are defined as “a contract under which one party (the insurer) accepts significant insurance risk from another party by agreeing to compensate the policyholder if a specified uncertain future event adversely affects the policyholder”. A contract that qualifies as an insurance contract remains an insurance contract until all rights and obligations are extinguished or expire. Such a contract that does not contain significant insurance risk is classified as an investment contract and is within the scope of IAS 39, Financial Instruments: Recognition and measurement to the extent that it gives rise to a financial asset or financial liability, except if the investment contract contains a Discretionary Participation Features (DPF). If the contract has a DPF, the contract is subject to IFRS 4, Insurance Contracts. The Group recognizes assets (liabilities) and gains (losses) relating to insurance contracts as other assets (liabilities) in the statements of financial position, and as other operating income (expenses) in the statements of comprehensive income, respectively.
3.16.1 Insurance premiums
The Group recognizes collected premiums as revenue on the due date of collection of premiums from insurance contracts and the collected premium which is unmatured at the end of the reporting period is recognized as unearned premium.
3.16.2 Insurance liabilities
The Group recognizes a liability for future claims, refunds, policyholders’ dividends and related expenses as follows:
Premium reserve
A premium reserve refers to an amount based on the net premium method for payment of future claims with respect to events covered by insurance policies which have not yet occurred as of the reporting period.
Reserve for outstanding claims
A reserve for outstanding claims refers to the amount not yet paid, out of an amount to be paid or expected to be paid with respect to the insured events which have arisen as of the end of each fiscal year.
Unearned premium reserve
Unearned premium refers to the portion of the premium that has been paid in advance for insurance that has not yet been provided. An unearned premium reserve refers to the amount maintained by the insurer to refund in the event of either party cancelling the contract.
Policyholders’ dividends reserve
Policyholders’ dividends reserve including an interest rate guarantee reserve, a mortality dividend reserve and an interest rate difference dividend reserve is recognized for the purpose of provisioning for policyholders’ dividends in the future in accordance with statutes or insurance terms and conditions.
3.16.3 Liability adequacy test
The Group assesses at each reporting period whether its insurance liabilities are adequate, using current estimates of all future contractual cash flows and related cash flow such as claims handling cost, as well as cash flows resulting from embedded options and guarantees under its insurance contracts in accordance with IFRS 4. If the assessment shows that the carrying amount of its insurance liabilities is inadequate in light of the estimated future cash flows, the entire deficiency is recognized in profit or loss and reserved as insurance liabilities. Future cash flows from long-term insurance are discounted at a future rate of return on operating assets, whereas future cash flows from general insurance are not discounted to present value. For liability adequacy tests of premium and unearned premium reserves, the Group considers all cash flow factors such as future insurance premium, deferred acquisition costs, operating expenses and operating premiums. In relation to the reserve for outstanding claims, the Group elects a model that best reflects the trend of paid claims among several statistical methods to perform the adequacy test.
3.16.4 Deferred acquisition costs
Acquisition cost is deferred in an amount actually spent for an insurance contract and equally amortized over the premium payment period or the period in which acquisition costs are charged for the relevant insurance contract. Acquisition costs are amortized over the shorter of seven years or premium payment period; if there is any unamortized acquisition costs remaining as of the date of surrender or lapse, such remainder shall be amortized in the period in which the contract is surrendered or lapsed.