The board of Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽), a subsidiary of Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), yesterday approved a proposal to set up a life insurance operation in Vietnam.
In a stock exchange filing yesterday, Fubon Financial said the life insurer’s board had authorized its chairman, Richard Tsai (蔡明興), to negotiate terms and proceed with the planned new subsidiary in Vietnam within a maximum funding of NT$1.3 billion (US$40 million).
Following the acquisition of ING Antai Life Insurance Co (安泰人壽) in June, Fubon Life Insurance has become the nation’s second-largest life insurer by gross premiums after Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽).
Yesterday’s filing did not disclose the timeframe for the establishment of the Vietnamese life insurance subsidiary.
But the move indicates an increasing interest by Fubon Financial, the nation’s second-largest listed financial services provider, to tap Vietnam’s burgeoning financial market after its banking unit — Taipei Fubon Bank (台北富邦銀行) — purchased two of debt-ridden Chinfon Commercial Bank’s (慶豐銀行) Vietnam-based branches for NT$2.53 billion late last month.
Taipei Fubon Bank currently operates a branch and a liaison office in Vietnam, while the group’s property and casualty insurance unit, Fubon Insurance Co (富邦產險), started serving customers at its Hanoi branch through its Vietnamese subsidiary on June 12.
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