Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., South Korea's No. 1 non-life insurer, said Thursday its second-quarter earnings rose 9 percent from a year ago thanks to a decreased loss rate.

Net income came to 340.8 billion won ($261 million) in the April-June period, compared with 312.6 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Operating income expanded 8.4 percent on-year to 490.1 billion won, and insurance premiums from policyholders stood at slightly over 5 trillion won, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier.

In the first half of the year, net profit edged up 0.8 percent to 749.9 billion won. Insurance premiums rose 1.3 percent to 9.89 trillion won in the January-June period.

The loss rate for car insurance dropped 2.5 percentage points on-year to 76.5 percent in the first half due largely to fewer accidents from COVID-19 and rising international oil prices.

A senior company official said Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance will ramp up efforts to secure a stable profit base in the second half, despite such negatives as galloping inflation and worries over a global economic recession.

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance is the non-life insurance arm of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest family-controlled conglomerate. (Yonhap)