South Korea's top life insurer Samsung Life Insurance Co. said Thursday its third-quarter net profit plunged more than 50 percent from a year ago, but its bottom line rose 30 percent in the first nine months of the year.

Consolidated net profit stood at 159.1 billion won ($134.7 million) in the July-September period, down 54 percent from a year earlier, Samsung Life Insurance said in a regulatory filing.

Revenue increased 12.9 percent on-year to 9.09 trillion won in the three-month period, while operating profit sank 64.3 percent to 133.7 billion won.

In the first three quarters of the year, however, Samsung Life Insurance's net profit swelled 30 percent on-year to 1.29 trillion won thanks to special dividends from Samsung Electronics Co.

Samsung Life Insurance is the largest shareholder in Samsung Electronics Co., the flagship of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, with about 8.2 percent.

Samsung Life Insurance said its assets had totaled 336.3 trillion won as of the end of September.

Its risk-based capital ratio came to 311 percent, one of the best among local players. The RBC ratio -- the actual solvency capital divided by the minimum solvency capital required -- measures an insurer's ability to absorb losses and pay insurance money to policyholders. (Yonhap)