English translation of the original Korean report. Images and source documents may contain Korean text.

MetLife Korea, led by CEO Song Young-rok, is once again drawing attention through National Assembly data for having been sanctioned for underpaying hospitalization insurance benefits.

The company distributed 379.8 billion won in dividends, 2.8 times its net profit for 2025, and the Korean dividends received by its UK parent company were also used as a loan source for its Irish affiliate.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s public disciplinary records on the 3rd, MetLife Korea underpaid a total of 7.1 million won across 55 cases of hospitalization insurance benefits from July 17, 2018, to February 6, 2024. The disciplinary date for this is October 23, 2024.

This case was also included in the FSS submission data released last September by the office of Rep. Park Sung-hoon of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee. According to the data released at the time, the detailed number of cases of non-payment or underpayment of insurance benefits detected from 2022 to July of this year totaled 961 cases, amounting to 548.4 million won.

MetLife Korea’s problem was its method of calculating hospitalization days. The FSS pointed out that if a policyholder is hospitalized two or more times for the same illness or accident, the hospitalization days should be summed up and then three days deducted, but the company calculated insurance benefits by deducting three days each time the policyholder was hospitalized. There were 29 types of related policy clauses.

While calculations different from the policy terms were detected in insurance benefit payments, shareholders continued to receive dividends significantly exceeding the profits earned that year. According to the company’s separate audit report, the total dividend for 2025 was 379.8 billion won, which is the sum of an interim dividend of 102.7 billion won and a final dividend of 277.1 billion won.

The separate net profit for that year was 135.1 billion won, and the dividend payout ratio was 281.1%. In 2024, with a net profit of 129.8 billion won, dividends amounted to 397.6 billion won, reaching a payout ratio of 306.2%. Dividends were paid from accumulated retained earnings.

CEO Song, a certified public accountant who previously worked at accounting firms and served as MetLife Korea’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), directly participated in dividend decision-making. According to the company’s 2025 Annual Report on Corporate Governance and Remuneration System, CEO Song approved the agenda item for the approval of the 2025 interim dividend and the determination of the dividend record date at the board meeting held on November 28 last year. The agenda item was passed with the unanimous consent of all attending directors.

CEO Song graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in mathematics, obtained his certified public accountant qualification, and worked as an accountant at accounting firms such as Sedong, Hanyoung, and Samil. He later served as MetLife Korea’s finance executive and CFO before becoming CEO in 2018. The fact that a CEO with finance and accounting as key professional competencies directly participated in a dividend decision that significantly exceeded net profit is also a notable point in this high-dividend controversy.

■ Dividends to UK Parent Company, Used as Loan Source for Irish Affiliate

The shareholder that received the dividends is MetLife UK Management, which holds 100% of MetLife Korea’s shares. Its direct parent company is Metropolitan Global Management LLC in the US, and its ultimate parent company is the US-listed MetLife, Inc.

The UK parent company’s 2025 fiscal year report, submitted to the UK Companies House on September 10, also details the subsequent use of the Korean dividends. The UK parent company stated that it received 175 million dollars from the Korean entity on April 3 of this year, and on the 9th of the same month, it used this as a loan source for MetLife Ireland Treasury d.a.c.

It took six days from the receipt of dividends to the loan to the affiliate. The lender is the UK parent company, and the terms are a 3-year maturity, an annual interest rate of 5.20%, and quarterly interest payments. The 175 million dollars is the amount received in April of this year, and the accounting standard differs from the total domestic interim and final dividends for 2025, which amounted to 379.8 billion won.

Last year, the UK parent company also received a total of 250 million dollars in dividends from Korea on two occasions. In the same year, the amount newly loaned to MetLife Ireland Treasury was 261 million dollars. The UK parent company disclosed that it did not declare or pay dividends to its own shareholders in 2025.

Regarding the high dividends, MetLife Korea stated last April that it was a normal business activity based on solid financial soundness and improved performance. The company explained that it would strengthen its competitiveness in the Korean market through a stable financial foundation and continuous investment.

Regarding consumer protection, the board of directors approved the management direction and plan for financial consumer protection on June 17 last year. On September 23 of the same year, it was disclosed in the annual corporate governance report that the content and results of management measures taken in accordance with CEO Song’s overall internal control management duties were reported to the board of directors.