Under the current law, insurance companies can own shares of major shareholders or affiliates only 3% or less of their total assets to prevent the risk of loss. Since insurance companies' assets are basically those of policyholders, it reflects the perception that it is not desirable to invest excessively in a specific company. Currently, Samsung Electronics shares held by Samsung Life Insurance are maintained at less than 3% of its total assets when calculated as acquisition costs.
However, if the Samsung Life Insurance Act is to be calculated based on market value after passing the National Assembly, Samsung Life Insurance's shares in Samsung Electronics will exceed 3 percent of its total assets. This means that Samsung Electronics needs to sell its shares in bulk to keep the "three percent rule."
Of course, the Samsung Life Insurance Act has been proposed since the 19th National Assembly, but it has not been passed every time. "The Samsung Life Insurance Act has not been passed because Samsung has been reluctant to pass it," said Jeon Sung-in, a former professor at Hongik University. "Unless the Democratic Party suddenly changes to reform, it seems difficult for the law to pass due to Samsung's lobbying power."
Just looking at the presidential office and the cabinet of the new government, there are already Samsung members everywhere. Bong-wook, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, was a member of Samsung's compliance monitoring committee, and Koo Yoon-chul, a former head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination who is a candidate for deputy prime minister for economy and minister of strategy and finance, served as an outside director of Samsung Life until June 30. President Lee also recruited a large number of former entrepreneurs to important government posts, including a nominee for science and technology information and communication minister (former head of LG Artificial Intelligence Institute), a nominee for minister of small and medium-sized venture businesses (former CEO of Naver) and a nominee for minister of industry, trade and energy (President of Doosan Energy Kim Jeong-kwan). Considering the personnel management stance, experts predict that the new government will put business-friendly policies on top of the list, while chaebol reform issues will be put down to the lower ranks.
Indeed, I'm interested in what will happen.
But whether it's in the majority's interest to pass this law,
Or it seems important whether the side effects are greater than that.
If it's President Lee Jae-myung you've seen before,
I don't think we'll continue to allow exceptions to these things.
I believe it will show its willingness to reasonably improve the irrationality again this time.