KB Financial Group signed a memorandum of understanding on the promotion of its care services industry at the headquarters of SOMPO Holdings in Tokyo, Japan.
Its attendances were executives from both companies, including KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyu and SOMPO Holdings Chairman Sakurada Kengo on June 8.
SOMPO Holdings is Japan’s largest insurance group, with total assets of approximately 135 trillion won, comprising 95 subsidiaries in five business segments — the life insurance, non-life insurance, overseas insurance, nursing care and digital businesses. Its two main affiliates are SOMPO Japan, Japan’s first non-life insurer and SOMPO Care, a company specializing in nursing care services.
SOMPO Holdings is currently running various brands of nursing facilities and offering a variety of care services, including the Smile Aging Program, which helps prevent cognitive declines by improving the lifestyles of senior citizens, the SOMPO Smile Club which provides dementia prevention services for dementia insurance policyholders and the Power of Parents and Children, which enables people to work while caring for their parents.
Through this business agreement, KB Financial Group will share Sompo Holdings’ capabilities in infrastructure operation and the development of care products and services in Japan to provide high-quality care services to customers.
Through this agreement, KB Golden Life Care will collaborate with SOMPO Care in the field of digital technology to provide customized care services to customers by collecting data based on the internet of things.
With this agreement, SOMPO Holdings will also collaborate with KB Financial Group to enter the Korean nursing care market directly and indirectly.
“Korea is the fastest aging country compared to other major countries in the world,” a KB Financial Group official said.
“It is needed to expand the infrastructure of the care service industry and provide various financial products and services in preparation for Korea’s transition to an aging society. We hope that this MOU will enable the care service industry in Korea is heading towards an ultra-elderly society, to jump to the next level.”
Prior to the signing of the MOU, KB Financial Chairman Yoon Jong-kyu and other KB Financial Group executives visited SOMPO Care's training and education centers for nursing care professionals and facilities for researching digital new technologies related to nursing care services.
Meanwhile, on May 18, KB Financial Group held a tree planting event with KB employees in Hongcheon, Gangwon-do Province, to create a hospitable environment for bees, whose population has recently plummeted due to climate change in honor of World Bee Day.
As part of its K-Bee Project to restore bee ecosystems, KB Financial Group is currently promoting the so-called Bee Bee Tree Forest Creation Project to plant 100,000 tree saplings in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province by 2024.
KB Financial Group launched the project in 2022 with preparations for a site for the forest, followed by infrastructure installation, a forestation test to find out suitable tree species. This year, it is implementing planting and nursery processes to grow the saplings.
Considering that flowers are blooming simultaneously across the country and the duration of flowering is getting shorter and shorter due to the recent abnormal weather, KB Financial is establishing the Milwon Forest with various saplings such as holly, lily, and shea trees.
“The project will help rev up local economies through the creation of decent jobs by providing an environment for beekeeping,” said an official of KB Financial Group.
“KB Financial Group will continue to take the lead in protecting natural ecosystems and preserving biodiversity so that humans and nature will be able live together.”
The K-Bee Project is a project launched by KB Financial Group, an ESG leader, in 2022 to save bees. In addition to the project to create a honeybee forest, KB Financial Group has established an urban apiary and a bee hotel to create a honeybee ecosystem in downtown areas, as well as a honeybee palace forest in Changgyeonggung Palace in Seoul.
In addition, the project has been creating a video to promote the value of honeybees, drawing much attention from the general public.
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