Seoul Guarantee Insurance
Seoul Guarantee Insurance Company is an insurance company headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1969, SGI provides contract bonds to facilitate the economic activities of individuals, businesses, and other bond types, including mobile phone installment payment bonds, mid-range interest rate loan bonds, and housing rental loan bonds. According to the International Credit Insurance & Surety Association, the company ranks among the top four globally regarding original insurance premium revenues.
History
Seoul Guarantee Insurance was founded in 1969 as Korea Fidelity and Surety Company, or Korea Guarantee Insurance, specializing in providing guarantees to businesses and individuals. Since the establishment of Hankuk Fidelity and Surety Company in 1989, these two guarantee insurance companies created a competitive market environment. However, following the 1997 financial crisis, the two companies merged in November 1998, adopting the name Seoul Guarantee Insurance.In 1999, the Financial Supervisory Service conducted a due diligence assessment of SGI revealing that the company was insolvent, with liabilities exceeding assets by 3.79 trillion won. Unpaid insurance claims totaled 3.4 trillion won, while liquid assets were only 1.08 trillion won. Despite this, an evaluation committee under the Financial Services Commission determined that business recovery was possible with government and external funding and an improved business environment. Given the lack of alternatives for credit guarantees for low-income households and SMEs in the short term, the government decided to revive SGI. In June, the FSC designated it as a distressed financial company. The Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation invested 1.25 trillion won, and the Korea Asset Management Corporation deferred certain payments until March 2001. The company’s outstanding shares were written off and retired.
In 2023, the KDIC sought to list SGI to recover about 5 trillion won of the 10 trillion won in public funds injected during the crisis, but it withdrew the plan due to unfavorable market conditions. SGI then debuted on the KOSPI market in March 2025, allowing the KDIC to recover 181.5 billion won.