South Korea’s insurance companies plan to slash their employees’ salaries, industry sources said Thursday, amid the rising criticism that insurers are giving excessive paychecks despite their weak performances.

The move also comes in line with the government’s move to impose stricter rules on local insurers by providing a guideline on the firms’ wage system, in an apparent bid to protect policyholders and shareholders’ rights.

“As insurers are operated with policyholders’ premiums, their manner of providing wages hovering above 100 million won ($91,659) to employees amid the economic slump seems problematic,” a financial authority official said.

The annual average wage for male employees at Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. came to 107 million won, trailed by Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Co. with 103 million for fiscal 2012.

LIG Insurance Co. held a comparable figure of 98.3 million won, followed by Hanwha Life Insurance Co. with 97 million won and Samsung Life Insurance with 95 million won, sources said. (Yonhap News)