KYOBO LIFE

Anti-harassment and Bullying

Kyobo Life conducts business based on Humanism Management Philosophy.
We respect workers’ dignity. We strictly forbid discrimination in the workplace and deal with sexual harassment and bullying with zero tolerance policy.

1. Anti-harassment Policy

Kyobo Life forbids sexual harassment, i.e. business owners, higher rank seniors or workers using his/her superior position to make sexual advances or request sexual favors related to work causing the other person to feel sexually humiliated or disgusted, or such conducts of giving someone disadvantage in his/her working conditions or employment due to his/her rejection of sexual advances or other requests.

Immediate action will be taken against sexual harassment upon receipt of a complaint according to zero tolerance policy, and the identity of the victim or the reporter is strictly protected to prevent them from any disadvantages of reporting such conduct. Furthermore, in case the reported conduct is confirmed to have actually happened, due measures such as disciplinary action, corrective measure or legal measure will be taken.

Anti-harassment Prevention Training

Training is provided more than once a year to all employees to eradicate and prevent sexual harassment.

Reporting and Counseling

• Complaint reporting: the victim or a witness can report sexual harassment anonymously at the Ombudsman Office using the hotline or the Internal Report Center that is operated by the compliance officer. Complaints can be made via email, telephone or a meeting.
• Official handling procedure: the investigation team consisting of HR department, lawyer and labor attorney investigates the facts and determines the countermeasure. Upon receipt of a complaint or acknowledgement of an incident, the company investigates the case without delay, and makes sure that the victim is heard and does not feel insulted during the investigation.

Disciplinary and Corrective Measure

• When the actor is confirmed to have violated the company policy through investigation, appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken based on relevant laws, regulations and company rules according to zero tolerance policy.
• Appropriate measures such as relocation within the workplace to avoid secondary damage or paid leave are taken for the victim to proactively support his/her recovery of rights and psychological health. No actions are taken against the victim’s will throughout the complaint handling process.
• In case anyone receives a disciplinary action due to workplace harassment, measures taken against the actor and to resolve the incident are disclosed in the annual Sustainability Report. However, specific details of the incident may not be disclosed if confidentiality is required to protect the victim’s identity and human rights.

2. Anti-bullying Policy

As stipulated in the anti-bullying clause of the company’s internal policy (Employment Regulation), Kyobo Life forbids workplace bullying, i.e. users or workers using his/her position or relationship within the workplace to cause physical or psychological pain to other workers or deteriorate the working environment.

Whether the reported conduct can be construed as workplace bullying is determined through comprehensive consideration of the details of the incident including the relationship between the parties, location and circumstance of the conduct, explicit or presumptive reaction of the victim in response to the conduct, and the description and the severity of the conduct. Immediate action will be taken against workplace bullying upon receipt of a complaint according to zero tolerance policy, and the identity of the victim or the reporter is strictly protected to prevent them from any disadvantages of reporting such conduct.

Furthermore, in case the reported conduct is confirmed to have actually happened, due measures such as disciplinary action, corrective measure or legal measure will be taken.

Anti-bullying Prevention Training

• Training is provided more than once a year to all employees to prevent workplace bullying.

Reporting and Counseling

• Complaint reporting: the victim or a witness can report workplace bullying anonymously at the Ombudsman Office using the hotline or the Internal Report Center that is operated by the compliance officer. Complaints can be made via email, telephone or a meeting.
• Counseling & investigation: based on the received complaint, counseling and investigation are proceeded to verify the details of the incident, whether the conduct was repetitive and continuous, and the severity of the damage to the victim, and to collect direct or circumstantial evidence.
• Fact check & disciplinary action: after verifying the facts based on the investigation, appropriate disciplinary action is determined if such is necessary as per the company regulation.
• Notice of outcome: the reporter or the victim is informed of any disciplinary actions taken or whether anyone has been relocated to a different department.

Disciplinary and Corrective Measure

• Once the charge is confirmed and it requires disciplinary action according to the company regulation, appropriate disciplinary action shall be taken.
• Relevant trainings will be reinforced in order to prevent recurrence and retaliation.
• In case anyone receives a disciplinary action due to workplace bullying, measures taken against the actor and to resolve the incident are disclosed in the annual Sustainability Report. However, specific details of the incident may not be disclosed for the purpose of protecting victim’s privacy and confidentiality.

Diversity

Kyobo Life supports the “culture of diversity and inclusion” which recognizes and accepts the difference of individuals within the organization.

We are building an organizational culture where everyone understands and embraces other members of the organization- regardless of gender, title or nationality, whether working at the headquarters or in the field, whether scouted from another company or whether somebody has a disability.

Through these efforts, we aim to become an “organization capable of innovation” by abolishing “discrimination” in the organization and nurturing creativity of the individuals.

• Discrimination upon new hiring based on applicant’s gender, age, kinship, regional or educational background, race, religion or social position is strictly forbidden. 
• Unjustifiable sexual discrimination, i.e. treating male and female differently without a rational reason, is forbidden.  
• Fixed-term or short-term contractors shall not be discriminated against regular workers.
• Religious and cultural aspects of foreign workers shall be respected and not be a cause for discriminatory treatment.
• There will be no discrimination upon job assignment, and opportunities for promotion, compensation and training shall be granted fairly without discrimination to all executives and employees based purely on personal capability and objective performance.
• Elements that could cause discrimination within the workplace such as factionalism shall be continuously identified and controlled.
• Targets regarding key diversity indexes such as the ratio of female executives shall be established and managed

Human Rights

Kyobo Life conducts business based on Humanism Management Philosophy.
We support international principles on human rights including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Core ILO Conventions. For the first time in the insurance industry, Kyobo Life signed the 10 Principles of the UN Global Compact in 2010, manifesting our intention to practice Human Rights Management internally and externally.

Kyobo Life continues to be committed to human rights-friendly business by operating procedures to identify and assess actual and potential risks the company’s operations have on human rights of its stakeholders.

Kyobo Life’s Human Rights Policy applies to all stakeholders, including its executives, employees, customers, financial planners, and investors.

• No employee shall be discriminated in terms of employment, promotion, and compensation based on one’s gender, religious belief, disability, age, nationality, ethnicity, political opinion or school, regional, and blood ties.
• We prohibit child labor, forced labor, human trafficking, as well as physical and mental restraint, and we comply with the labor and employment standards of each country in which we operate
• We respect the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining and remain committed to fostering harmony between labor and management while building trust.
• We strive to provide a safe and healthy working environment for all our employees.
• We handle and protect personal information of all our stakeholders, including customers, employees, and financial planners, with diligence and care.
• Discrimination against any customer in product or service offerings on the basis of gender, religious belief, disability, or social status is strictly prohibited.
• We ensure the provision of accurate product and service information to our customers and promptly and fairly address customer complaints once filed.
• We engage in activities aimed at preventing human rights violations, such as employee training and the operation of a hotline for reporting such violations.
• Financial planners and partner companies are recognized and respected as business partners contributing to mutual growth.
• We disclose essential information to investors in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and company rules.
• We are committed to ensuring that the human rights of members of the regional community are not violated throughout all aspects of our business operations.

Occupational Safety and Health

In order to provide a safe and healthy workplace for our employees and prevent any accidents that may occur at every workplace, we are committed to the following measures:

• Kyobo Life adheres to laws, regulations, and international standards related to safety and health.
• Our Occupational Safety and Health Committee, composed of employees and users, deliberates and makes decisions on matters pertaining to the prevention of occupational disasters and health and safety.
• We annually devise safety and health plans, which are reported to the board for approval, and implement them according to priority.
• We continuously inspect and address dangerous risk factors within the workplace to mitigate risks.
• We actively engage in safety and health activities in our business management by creating a safe working environment with the aim of achieving the goal of zero disasters and zero accidents in the workplace.

Information Security

Kyobo Life endeavors to establish a safe information security management system and to protect customer data. In 2006, we became the first Korean insurance company to obtain the ISO 27001 certification, and in 2023, we once again pioneered the Korean insurance industry by receiving and subsequently maintaining the Personal Information & Information Security Management System (ISMS-P) certification that extends not only across our insurance business (FP, GFP, and direct marketing channel) but also to our website (insurance service). Kyobo Life established the Information Security Policy to clearly define the security control measures and the accountability pertaining to all personal (credit) information of the customers that could be obtained during the course of customer data entrustment. The Information Security Policy applies to the headquarters and all local and overseas branches, affiliates, subsidiaries, partner companies and companies entrusted with customer data.

Information Security Risk Management

• Within the company-wide risk management system. Information security is categorized as non-financial risk, and relevant risk factors are reviewed and regularly monitored. According to Kyobo Life’s Guideline on Treatment of Personal Data, we organized the Consultative Group for Information Security to systematically manage national security at the enterprise level, customer data protection, IT security and general security.
• The suitability of the in-house security system operation is checked periodically, and the security solution and the record of customer data inquiry by the staff are analyzed so as to detect abnormal behavior of the staff and request his/her explanation.
• Execution of customer data protection is checked regularly at agencies/entrusted companies (quarterly) and branches (frequently), and also through self-evaluation (quarterly) in order to enhance employees’ understanding of customer data protection, and on-going training on customer data protection is provided to all employees and financial planners.

Disciplinary Action upon Violation

• Disciplinary action shall be imposed on the executive/employee or the organization that violates the Information Security Policy in accordance with relevant laws and company regulations (Staff Discipline Recommendation Criteria), and the level of the disciplinary action shall be determined according to the type and the severity of the violation.

Audit on Information Security

• In accordance with Article 20 (6) of Credit Information Utilization and Protection Act and Article 22-2 (3) of Regulations on Supervision of Credit Information Business, Kyobo Life conducts annual reviews of the management and protection status of personal credit information, reports the outcomes of these reviews to the Financial Security Institute (Financial Services Commission), undergoes inspections by the organization, and carries out internal annual information security audits. Any identified areas for improvement are promptly addressed, with ongoing monitoring of their implementation.

Designated Person for Information Security

Kyobo Life has a designated person for information security responsible for collecting feedback and handling complaints regarding information security.

Financial Inclusion

Kyobo Life's operation is grounded in the sustainable management philosophy of 'pursuing mutual growth of all stakeholders.' As part of this commitment, Kyobo Life endeavors to improve access to finance for underserved groups, including the elderly and disabled, through the following efforts:

• Expand the range of products and services available to financially underserved groups, based on market research and feedback from customers.
• Offer products and services tailored to the underserved groups’ needs and preferences.
• Training employees to prevent misbehavior, including misselling and unrespectful treatment.
• Implement mechanisms for receiving and solving complaints that are easily accessible to underserved groups.
• Offer non-financial support, such as social contribution activities, to underserved groups.
• Engage with external stakeholders for the development of the inclusive finance market.

Board Diversity

Kyobo Life’s board is composed of directors with expertise in diverse areas so that the board can make important decisions in consideration of broader spectrum of stakeholders including shareholders and customers and from a comprehensive perspective.
In addition, to ensure that the board does not share a specific common background or represent a certain group, we pursue diversity in our board composition in terms of gender, age, background, nationality, race, religion, ethnic group and cultural background.
Kyobo Life seeks to achieve diversity within the board by appointing 20% or more female candidates for outside directorship, and elects our outside directors in a fair and transparent manner.

Expertise

• Areas of expertise: finance, economy, business management, digital technology, law, accounting, consumer protection, etc
• Expert capability: director of a financial company with abundant professional knowledge or work experience in the respective sector

Diversity

• Gender: ensuring that the board does not consist of a specific gender
• Age: achieving diversity of perspectives by harmonizing experience and flexibility
• Background: avoiding concentration on specific region, sector or profession
• Nationality, race, religion, ethnic group and cultural background: pursuing diversity within the scope permitted by laws and regulations

Sustainable Investment

1. Overview

In tandem with its philosophy of sustainable business management that “pursues mutual growth with all stakeholders,” Kyobo Life promotes ESG management that takes into account the environmental (E), social (S) and governance (G) criteria. Kyobo Life was the first Korean insurance company to join the UN Global Compact, and is working hard to actively communicate with the stakeholders by publishing the Sustainability Report every year, sharing our sustainable business management activities and achievements.

ESG awareness is growing across the globe. In particular, natural disasters caused by climate change are not only impacting our daily lives but they are also affecting the way we run our businesses. Accordingly, the international society adopted the Paris Agreement in 2016, agreeing to join efforts to stop the rise of average global temperature, and governments of numerous countries including Korea committed to achieving net zero in 2050- meaning net carbon emissions will be reduced to zero by 2050- and are introducing regulations and systems to obtain this goal.

In line with such changes in the business environment, Kyobo Life is exerting efforts to contribute to a sustainable future by, for example, declaring its “coal phase-out” policy in May 2021, according to which no more investment will be made in construction of new coal power plant, and issuing KRW470 billion worth of ESG-certified hybrid securities in September 2021 for the first time as a local life insurance company.

While proactively responding to the shifting business environment including climate change as a faithful manager of customers’ assets, we would like to share our sustainable investment policy that incorporates ESG in the decision-making process in order to generate stable long-term profit.

We plan to comprehensively examine the risks and the opportunities our investment methodology could entail, respond to changes in business environment preemptively by considering ESG factors in our investment decision-making process, and strive to achieve responsible investment when managing our assets. Through these efforts, we will practice sustainable business management that generates robust profit for our customers and pursues mutual growth with all of our stakeholders.

2. Sustainable Investment System

As a faithful manager of our customers’ assets, Kyobo Life has been making efforts to build a system for ESG investment to ensure stable profit for our stakeholders through responsible asset management.

Scope

• Retail lending, stocks, bonds, alternative investment, etc

Principle

• Principles for a sustainable company to ensure long-term mutual growth

Process

1. 01. Identification and proposal of investment opportunity
   Discovering and proposing businesses and projects considering ESG criteria
2. 02. Deliberation
   Systemizing ESG impact evaluation through ESG scoring
   • Selecting investment targets using Negative/Positive Screening
   • Adopting the ESG checklist in the investment decision-making process to estimate ESG impact on the investment target and support effective ESG investment
3. 03. Execution
4. 04. Monitoring

Screening

3. Scope of Sustainable Investment

Based on the Sustainable Investment System, Kyobo Life provides the following financial products for asset management.

Retail lending

• Assets acquired by lending money to personal customers or individual businesses; e.g. unsecured loan, secured loan

Stocks

• Stocks and certificate of investment, depository receipts, stock warrants, IPO shares, etc

Bond

• National and public bonds, special bonds, non-guaranteed bond, equity linked securities, bond related products, etc

Alternative Investment

• Corporate lending, special lending (infrastructure financing, acquisition financing, asset-backed finance, other project financing), project financing, PEF, high-yield, financial advisory/arrangement, etc

4. Principles of Sustainable Investment

For the purpose of generating robust profit for the stakeholders through long-term, stable asset management and securing the company’s competitiveness, Kyobo Life strives to comply with the following six principles:

• Kyobo Life actively considers the ESG related risks and opportunities when making investment decisions to achieve mutual growth of the stakeholders over the long term.
• Kyobo Life restricts investment in sectors that have adverse impact from the ESG perspective or in sensitive and cautionary sectors according to the investment process. Also, following the Coal Phase-out declaration, Kyobo Life does not invest in projects involved in building new coal power plants.
• Kyobo Life endeavors to invest in areas necessary to fulfil social responsibility and protect the environment, and to increase participation in such projects.
• Kyobo Life continues to mutually cooperate with trade partners, customers and stakeholders in implementing the sustainable investment policy.
• Kyobo Life exerts continuous effort to enhance asset managers’ awareness of sustainable business management and to develop their management capability.
• Kyobo Life strives to share the status and the direction of sustainable investment in a transparent manner, and to faithfully report the ESG policy and the progress of implementation.

5. Sustainable Investment Process

This policy applies to the investment activities conducted by Kyobo Life and shall follow the below process:

1. 01. Identification and proposal of investment opportunities
2. 02. Deliberation
3. 03. Execution
4. 04. Monitoring

Identification and Proposal of Investment Opportunities

The Investment Team at Kyobo Life shall strive to identify and propose business and project opportunities that comply with the sustainable investment policy. The Investment Team shall make decisions on investment targets internally by considering the following:

Retail lending

• To restrict financial support for purposes that go against environmental or social/public interest or for use in criminal acts

Stock

• To make investments considering the impact of individual stocks on environment, society and governance

Bond

• To make investments considering not only duration, yield and credit rating but also ESG factors when selecting the bonds

Alternative Investment

• To invest in assets or companies related with new & renewable and high-efficiency energy, and thereby contribute to smooth financing of eco-friendly businesses and innovation of relevant technologies
• To invest in social welfare projects related to residence, health and education and low-income bracket support projects, and thereby contribute to co-development of the society
• To consider potential technology development and job creation when investing in SMEs
• To primarily consider ESG related risk factors when considering investment

Deliberation

The basic principle of the department responsible for deliberation is to examine the investment target against the ESG criteria according to the detailed rules for asset evaluation. The department analyzes and considers the impact of the potential investment on environment, society and governance. The subject investment must pass the Negative Screening, and will be evaluated according to the environmental (e.g. environmental regulation, use of resources), social (e.g. work environment, fair trade) and governance (e.g. stockholders’ right, investment structure) criteria.

• To evaluate and score local companies and project financing based on ESG criteria that reflects the characteristics of the respective target
• To assign ESG grades based on the evaluation: A (very good), B (good), C (average), D (poor), E (very poor)
• Possibility of investment by ESG grade: A~C- investment possible; D- selectively possible; E- investment restricted.
• Nevertheless, investment or line assignment may be possible to grade E with approval from the Investment Asset Deliberation Committee

Execution

Investment is executed after going through the approval process, if the identified impact on ESG elements passes investment screening and the review of the actual implementation plan is complete.

Monitoring

The team in charge of execution and the team in charge of follow-up conduct on-going monitoring of ESG risks and their mitigation measures regarding the investment made.

Tax

Kyobo Life complies with the tax laws and acknowledges that fulfilling the duty to faithfully pay the taxes is an act of exercising corporate social responsibility. We faithfully pay our taxes in accordance with domestic and international tax laws, and do not take part in illegal tax evasion or conducts that are considered illegal by the tax laws. We honestly report to the tax authority of our tax related matters and annually report our corporation tax through the external tax adjuster based on the financial statements audited by our external auditors.

Tax Risk Management

The key to Kyobo Life’s tax risk management is “strict compliance with laws and regulations.” We maintain a transparent relationship with the tax authority, and submit all necessary proofs to support the facts upon request. Furthermore, as a global company, we recognize the difference of tax laws across the countries and try to prevent any tax risk in advance. We do not utilize a tax structure with no commercial entity tax evasion, and do not transfer our income to our related or subordinate companies located in tax haven countries. Kyobo Life understands the risk of double taxation caused by competition between tax authorities over the right of taxation pertaining to transfer pricing, and conducts our transactions according to the arm’s length principle to resolve such risk.

Disclosure of Tax Payments

Kyobo Life discloses corporation tax information in the Business Report that is exhibited in the Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System (DART) of Financial Supervisory Service. The Business Report contains such information as the corporation tax expense, deferred tax asset and liability, detailed composition of corporation tax expense and effective tax rate.