Hanwha Life Vice President and CEO Cha Nam-gyu has tendered his resignation, citing the need for a generational shift.

The local insurer announced Monday via DART -- the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure board -- that he has stepped down after nearly nine years of overseeing the management.

“Cha Nam-gyu decided to step down from his position on Saturday and his resignation has been accepted,” the company said.

“He hopes (Hanwha Life) will promote a new management environment, to prepare for changes in the industry, such as the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards 17,” the company added.

Following his resignation, Hanwha Life will drop its co-CEO system.

Co-CEO Yeo Seung-joo will lead the company, while Cha will remain as an adviser. He previously served as CEO of Hanwha Investment & Securities in 2016 and was. appointed as an executive of strategic planning at Hanwha Life last year. He was named co-CEO in March this year.

Cha had been the second-longest tenured CEO in the insurance industry and his term was to end in March. Benjamin Hong, CEO of Lina Life Insurance, is currently the longest serving chief, in his 10th year.

He joined the insurance arm of Hanwha Group as a general managing director when the conglomerate took over the company in 2002. He was promoted to CEO in 2011 and assumed the posts of vice president and CEO in 2017.

During his tenure, Hanwha Life amassed assets of more than 100 trillion won ($84.8 billion), while recording an income premium of 15 trillion won.

The insurer has also obtained the AAA rating from credit agencies for 12 consecutive years. It became the first Korean insurer to enter the Vietnamese market 10 years ago.

Hanwha Life has posted a net profit of 430 billion won per year on average.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)