Meritz Financial Group, Inc. is a financial services holding company based in Seoul, South Korea. It operates six companies within its corporate family.
The private company was founded in 2007 by Cho Jung-Ho and offers general, non-life insurance products and plans, such as fire, marine and automobile protection, as well as guidance in finance and asset management.
Meritz Securities, the company that fathered the Meritz Financial Group, was founded in 1973 and acts as the axle for which the various insurance subsidiaries under the Group operate. Its long-term investment initiatives, such as the launching of the Seoul Investment Trust Co., Ltd., in 1996 and its merger with the Meritz Investment Bank in 2019, have established a reliable framework for the Meritz Financial Group to branch specifically into personal insurance investments.
The Group opened its Youido Finance Centre in 2015 following its leadership takeover by Yong-Beom Kim, a graduate of Seoul National University. Previously employed as the co-president, co-CEO and director, Kim now acts as the vice-chairman of the company and chief financial officer of both the Meritz Financial Group and Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd.
Under Kim’s leadership, the company has undergone rapid growth and restructuring. His approach has manipulated a previously authoritarian corporate management system into a performance-based reward system.
This system has cut major expenses and limited the traditional activity of corporate culture. Meritz Fire & Marine, specifically, has shown promising results, with soaring profit expansion in comparison to likened companies in its field.
- Family name: Cho family
- Sector: Insurance
- Founded: 2007
- Founder: Cho Jung-Ho
- Country: South Korea
- Company headquarters: Seoul, South Korea
- Chairman: Cho Jung-Ho
- Revenue: US$6.8 billion
- Family ownership: 67.7%
- Employees: 17,000
- Website: http://www.meritzgroup.com/eng/
