Woori Financial Group has formally announced plans to merge Tongyang Life and ABL Life in the second half of next year and says preparations are under way, a deal that would create a combined life insurer with about 55 trillion won ($40 billion) in assets, roughly the scale of South Korea's fifth-largest player. The move comes just over a year after the two insurers joined the group as affiliates on July 1 last year and after Woori turned Tongyang Life into a wholly owned subsidiary through a comprehensive stock swap on the 11th of this month. Chairman Yim Jong-yong will chair a group CEO town hall on the 19th to present the merger vision as Woori pushes to diversify beyond banking and build insurance into a core affiliate. The group says the merged insurer will seek to keep a stable K-ICS ratio while expanding contractual service margin, invest more in AI for sales and management, pursue senior-care opportunities and use an exclusive agent force expected to reach about 4,000 alongside cross-selling with other affiliates, while Tongyang Life CEO Seong Dae-gyu has already been laying the groundwork through nationwide branch visits and improving first-half earnings.