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MetLife Targets Korea's Retirement
Pension Plans
By Kyong-ae Choi, The Korea Times
Korea
October 20, 2005
William Toppeta, President of MetLife International
Korea has emerged as the most attractive Asian market for MetLife for its growth potential, particularly in retirement pension plans to be introduced this December.
As more people are retiring early in the rapidly aging Korean society, financial companies such as banks, insurers and securities firms are trying to secure a bridgehead in the retirement pension plan market.
``Within the Asia-Pacific region, Korea is No. 1 market for MetLife right now and will be the No. 1 market in the future. We intend to expand our business in retirement pension plans in Korea,'' William Toppeta, president of MetLife International, said in an interview with The Korea Times.
He also picked life insurance and long-term savings as core business as well, saying Asia is a very important growth area for the New York-based life insurer.
To show how committed it is to the Korean market, MetLife established the Children's Welfare Foundation to help children realize their potential and become productive members of society.
The foundation was set up with an initial contribution of 3.55 billion won ($3.4 million) from MetLife Korea. Stuart Solomon, CEO of MetLife Korea, serves as chairman of the welfare foundation.
As its first contribution, the MetLife Korea Foundation will support 17
institutions that have ``Disabled Children's Support Programs.''
MetLife Korea is also committed to opening the ``Happy Home School,'' a community children's center, jointly with the Korea Food for the Hungry International in two areas of Seoul _ Pongchon-dong, Kwanak-gu and Songsan-dong, Mapo-gu _ before the end of this year.
The after school program launched last year is popular with children whose parents cannot afford to send them to private cram schools and have to work late. The school helps the children with their homework and feeds them after school.
In addition, the foundation plans to award full scholarships to 160 junior high school students to help them continue their studies. It will get assistance from the 16 nationwide offices of education in selecting the students.
``Korea is very significant for us to be participating in and I would say that the creation of the foundation actually demonstrates that again. In other words, it shows how committed we are to this market and how important we think this market is,'' Toppeta said.
As a corporate citizen, MetLife is being helpful to the society in as many ways as it can and is contributing much to the society where it is doing business.
``If you understand the nature of our business,'' he noted, ``you would know that we help to benefit society by employing people, by providing good products and services for people to save money and protect themselves and also by investing premiums in the society.''
``I look forward to seeing our contribution to Korean society deepen, along with MetLife's business success here. Corporate social responsibility is new to Korea that it will take some time for the Koreans to accept the concept here,'' he said.
Last year, MetLife Korea initiated the `ID Card for Children' campaign based on its branch network and successfully attracted public attention to various missing child prevention programs. Also last year, the company launched the `Charitable Insurance' product, which enables the donation of customers' death payments to charitable institutions.
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