ING Life Korea Appoints New Management Team

Dutch financial services group ING Groep [085144] appointed John Wylie as chief executive and president of ING Life Korea [087173] to take over the responsibilities of Curt Olson, according to ING Life Korea.

The life insurer also appointed Andrew Barrett as the new chief financial officer. Barrett was previously the CFO and chief risk officer at ING Life Taiwan.

"After the implementation of a number of internal changes in response to the global financial crisis, ING believes that now a new type of leadership is required to take ING Life forward and continue its leadership in the South Korean insurance industry," said ING in a statement.

Wylie's final appointment will be subject to the approval of ING Life's board of directors. He will succeed Olson, who will pursue a career outside of ING, noted the insurer.

Wylie joined ING in 1992, taking up management positions for ING's tied agency distribution in the Poland and Taiwan markets, as well as its retirement services for Australia and Poland. ING said Wylie also took up the role of general manager of ING's Asia/Pacific regional office from 2003 to 2006 and gained market knowledge of the South Korean financial markets.

Prior to his new position, Wylie was CEO of ING Hong Kong and Macau.

Headquartered in Seoul, ING Life Korea, formerly Netherlands Life Insurance, is an independent business unit of ING group in South Korea. It was established as a strategic alliance between ING and South Korea's H&CB in 1999.

H&CB is one of South Korea's leading commercial banks, and has a 20% stake in ING Life Korea.

The insurer recorded 1 trillion won (US$902 million) in premium income and more than 100 billion won in renewal premiums in 2003, said ING Life Korea.