GERMAN INSURER ERGO EYES STRONGER PRESENCE IN S.KOREA

ERGO Insurance Group of Germany will seek to boost its presence in South Korea as a general insurance company by selling a variety of non-life insurance products, its chief said Tuesday.

"From now on, diverse products of ERGO Group shall be introduced to the market by taking a chance on ERGO Daum Direct's transformation into a general insurance company," Torsten Oletzky, chief executive officer of ERGO, told a press conference.

ERGO, Europe's 12th-largest insurance company, entered the Korean market in 2008 by buying a 65 percent stake in Daum Direct Auto Insurance Co., an online auto insurance unit of Daum Communications Corp.

ERGO's direct auto insurance unit in South Korea, ERGO Daum Direct Auto Insurance Co., got regulatory approval in September 2009 to sell six different non-life insurance products. In June, the German insurer renamed it ERGO Daum Direct General Insurance Co.

"The importance of the Korean market comes from market potential," Oletzky said.

"Our preference will be to grow steadily and profitably, rather than taking things too fast," he added, when asked about the group's business strategy in South Korea.

In line with its expansion plans, ERGO will provide fire insurance for home owners and liability insurance products in October and is considering the introduction of a travelers insurance policy, the company added.

Regarding concerns about the flagging global recovery, Oletzky said Asian countries have overcome the global financial turmoil rather quickly although the U.S. economy is still somewhat troubling.

"But I do believe that the prospects for the insurance industry, especially for the general insurance industry, are quite good," he said.

ERGO, a unit of Munich Re AG, the world's biggest reinsurer, has operations in more than 30 countries with its total premium income reaching 19 billion euros (US$24 billion).