Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) yesterday announced it had agreed with Aegon to form a joint venture in Taiwan to explore the life insurance and pension market via Taishin Financial's network.
Taishin Financial will hold 51 percent and Netherlands-based Aegon 49 percent of the new insurer, which will have an initial capital of NT$2 billion (US$60.6 million).
The name of the joint venture has yet decided, but both sides expect the firm to start operations within one year, subject to final agreement, regulatory licensing and approval, Taishin Financial president Lin Keh-hsiao (林克孝) said during a press briefing yesterday.
With Taishin Financial chairman Thomas Wu (
Focus on insurance
The new joint venture will focus on insurance and distribute products through the extensive Taishin network, which includes Taishin International Bank (台新銀行), Taiwan Securities Co (台証證券), the Taishin Insurance Agency (台新保代) and Taishin Insurance Brokers (台新保經).
Taishin's businesses have a combined customer base of 4 million and a nationwide distribution network of 200 locations.
Under the terms of the deal, Aegon will also acquire approximately 2.5 percent of Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) from Taishin Financial.
The financial services provider will have to divest the batch of more than 160 million shares before next Friday to comply with a February ruling of the Financial Supervisory Commission.
The commission made its decision in January after Taishin Financial and its banking unit failed to maintain their capital adequacy ratios above the required thresholds.
Shares of Chang Hwa bank yesterday closed up NT$0.05 at NT$19.15.
NT$24 per share
As Taishin Financial spent around NT$24 per share to buy 2.5 percent of the state-run lender since last June, it expected to book a loss of over NT$800 million in the second quarter, Lin said.
By acquiring a share of Chang Hwa Bank, the nation's eighth largest lender, Aegon expects to strengthen its cooperation with Taishin Financial, Liu said.
With Chang Hwa's 171 branches and 4.7 million customers nationwide, the joint venture will have a solid customer base of more than 8 million.
Aegon Taiwan, which received total gross premiums of NT$40 billion to occupy a 2.5 percent market share last year, distributes insurance products through 29 local banks it has signed deals with and through more than 700 agents. Aegon has more than 1 million customers nationwide.
Despite the establishment of the joint venture, Liu said Aegon Taiwan would remain an independent operation.
The deal was announced yesterday afternoon after the local bourse closed and before the Netherlands' stock market opened.
Shares of Taishin Financial closed down NT$0.15 at NT$16.55 on the TAIEX yesterday.
Between 2003 and last year, Taiwan's insurance market grew at an annual rate of 15 percent, the Life Insurance Association (
Growing popularity
Over the last several years, insurance products have grown more popular. Banks sold a total of US$2.3 billion in insurance products in 2003 and the figure jumped to more than US$5.6 billion last year, posting an average annual growth rate of 35 percent.
That made banks Taiwan's second largest insurance distribution channel, trailing only traditional insurance agencies.
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
DOLLAR SIGNS: The central bank rejected claims that the NT dollar had appreciated 10 percentage points more than the yen or the won against the greenback The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell for a sixth day to its weakest level in three months, driven by equity-related outflows and reactions to an economics official’s exchange rate remarks. The NT dollar slid NT$0.197, or 0.65 percent, to close at NT$30.505 per US dollar, central bank data showed. The local currency has depreciated 1.97 percent so far this month, ranking as the weakest performer among Asian currencies. Dealers attributed the retreat to foreign investors wiring capital gains and dividends abroad after taking profit in local shares. They also pointed to reports that Washington might consider taking equity stakes in chipmakers, including Taiwan Semiconductor
STABLE DEMAND: Delta supplies US clients in the aerospace, defense and machinery segments, and expects second-half sales to be similar to the first half Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) expects its US automation business to remain steady in the second half, with no signs of weakening client demand. With demand from US clients remaining solid, its performance in the second half is expected to be similar to that of the first half, Andy Liu (劉佳容), general manager of the company’s industrial automation business group, said on the sidelines of the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show in Taipei on Wednesday. The company earlier reported that revenue from its automation business grew 7 percent year-on-year to NT$27.22 billion (US$889.98 million) in the first half, accounting for 11 percent
RSS