[비즈한국] The nation's first small-sum, short-term specialized insurance company, and specifically a pet insurance specialist, is preparing for launch. 'MyBrown', a company with the slogan "Insurance that only thinks about pets," announced that it has recently received final approval for a small-sum, short-term insurance business from the Financial Services Commission. With the previous administration having failed in its efforts to revitalize the pet insurance market, attention is now focused on whether the launch of a specialized insurer will help grow the market.
MyBrown is a startup company established in March 2024. In September 2024, it received preliminary approval from the Financial Services Commission as a small-sum, short-term insurance company specializing in animal insurance. Since then, it has met detailed criteria, such as human and physical facility requirements, and succeeded in receiving final approval on June 11. It is preparing for an official launch in July.
The news of MyBrown obtaining final approval has become a hot topic in the market. This is because it is the first case to obtain final approval since the introduction of the small-sum, short-term insurance business system. MyBrown emphasized, "MyBrown is the first entity in Korea to receive both preliminary and final approval for a small-sum, short-term insurance business."
Small-sum, short-term insurance, also known as 'mini-insurance', refers to products with a policy period of up to 1 year and a maximum insurance payout of 50 million won. The path for entry was opened in June 2021 when financial authorities amended the Enforcement Decree of the Insurance Business Act to revitalize the market for customized insurance such as animal, leisure/travel, and weather insurance. At the time, the government pointed to the reality that while the number of companion animals in Korea reached approximately 8.6 million (6.4 million households), the insurance enrollment rate was only 0.25% (about 20,000 cases), and set out to foster pet insurance companies.
Under the existing Insurance Business Act, establishing a new general insurance company required capital of 5 billion to 30 billion won, but a small-sum, short-term insurance company can be launched with 2 billion won in capital. Most categories are permitted, including life, non-life (liability, expense, animal, theft, weather, glass), and third-sector insurance (disease, injury). However, they cannot handle items requiring long-term coverage (pensions, nursing care) or high capital (nuclear power, automobiles, etc.), and it is impossible to concurrently operate both life and non-life insurance businesses.
The launch of MyBrown is also drawing attention as a case where equity investment by large insurance companies is yielding results. MyBrown was established in 2024 with an investment of over 13 billion won from companies including Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance000810 and Samsung Life Insurance032830. According to Financial Supervisory Service disclosures, as of 2024, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance invested approximately 1.3 billion won for a 9.91% stake in MyBrown, and Samsung Life Insurance invested 900 million won for a 6.81% stake.
Although Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance stated that "MyBrown and our company are separate entities" and drew a line regarding management participation, it maintains a close relationship with MyBrown. MyBrown's trademark is applied for and held by Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, and MyBrown CEO Lee Yong-hwan and Auditor Lee Sung-chul are former employees of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance.
Furthermore, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance has consistently shown its intention to expand its business by filing trademarks related to companion animals. Following 'Udada', which was filed in March 2024 under product classifications including pet insurance, the company filed for 'OmoOmo Friends' in May, which includes animal training services, animal vaccines, and pet care businesses.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance also filed a trademark for 'Tail Planet' in November 2024. Tail Planet has been registered under a wide range of product classifications such as class 05, 09, 29, 31, 35, and 36. Looking at the applied industries, it covers the entire pet industry, including medical animal feed, software for selling pet insurance, health supplements, animal training, electronic devices for animal identification, pet insurance, and hygiene and beauty services for animals.
Attention is also focused on whether the emergence of a specialized insurer will be a spark for revitalizing the pet insurance market. While there are products centered around major non-life insurers, the pet insurance enrollment rate remains in the 1% range (1.7% as of the first half of 2024, Korea Insurance Research Institute). Currently, Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance000060 leads the pet insurance market. Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance established itself as a leader by launching 'PetPeppermint', the first long-term (3-year renewal) actual expense insurance for pets among domestic insurers, in 2018. Other companies such as DB Insurance005830 (Petvely, Lipet), KB Insurance (Gold-like Pet Insurance), Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (Wipoong Daengdaeng), and Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance001450 (Good & Good Our Pet) have also released pet insurance products.
It is also a problem that the Yoon Suk-yeol administration set 'revitalization of pet insurance' as a national task but faced early departure without achieving much. However, the policy of revitalizing insurance is expected to continue under the Lee Jae-myung administration. Although national tasks have not yet been released, the central pledge collection published during his time as a presidential candidate included "vitalizing insurance through the introduction of a standard fee system for pet medical expenses and infrastructure improvement."
Whether followers will emerge after MyBrown is also generating anticipation. 'Pouch Insurance Preparation Corporation' is a company established by those who were in charge of developing PetPeppermint at Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance. It identifies as a pet-specialized insurer and aims to launch its first product this year. The insurtech company 'Small Ticket' was designated for a financial sandbox in 2019 for its 'health promotion-type pet insurance reward service' and was considered a candidate for a pet-specialized insurer. Small Ticket received an investment from Kyobo Life Planet Life Insurance, a subsidiary of Kyobo Life Insurance, in February 2023. However, there has been no news of preliminary license applications from any of them.
For this reason, attention is focused on whether MyBrown, as the first case of a pet-specialized insurer, will successfully settle into the market. MyBrown plans to develop insurance products and automated screening processes based on electronic medical records (EMR) from animal hospitals and build a platform. A company official stated, "We will introduce an innovative claims process to resolve the inconveniences of the existing pet insurance market," and added, "We will introduce differentiated products that lower the entry barriers for pet owners to enroll in pet insurance."