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.
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling
As they zigzagged from one machine to another in the searing African sun, the workers were covered in black soot. However, the charcoal they were making is known as “green,” and backers hope it can save impoverished Chad from rampant deforestation. Chad, a vast, landlocked country of 19 million people perched at the crossroads of north and central Africa, is steadily turning to desert. It has lost more than 90 percent of its forest cover since the 1970s, hit by climate change and overexploitation of trees for household uses such as cooking, officials say. “Green charcoal” aims to protect what