Allianz Life, the South Korean subsidiary of the global insurance group Allianz, has launched a new service which allows policy holders to designate charities or public interest groups as policy beneficiaries.

Referred to as ‘charitable insurance’, Allianz Life has begun selling policies that donate death insurance claims to charity groups or public interest groups designated by the customer.

According to the insurer, charitable insurance is not a simple one-time donation of cash but part of an advanced donation culture using insurance, which is already common in America and Europe.

Charitable insurance can be bought by entering into the existing insurance products sold by Allianz Life such as Whole of Life (WOL) or Variable Universal Life. The customer can freely designate the charity group, social interest group, school, religious group or hometown gathering to receive donation.

For example, if a person aged 45 enters into Allianz Variable Universal Life with a face amount of 20 million South Korean won and pays a monthly premium of 150,000 won for two years, 20 million won plus accumulation is donated to the group designated at entry if the insured dies.