Chartis Taiwan Insurance Co chairman Mark Wei (魏寶生) resigned yesterday for personal reasons after the company posted a robust performance with its underwriting profits topping NT$15 million (US$471,500) in the first two months of this year.
Leslie Mouat, Chartis’ regional president of Southeast Asia, will take on the chairmanship, effective immediately, the insurance agency said, adding that it has also appointed former finance minister Lin Chuan (林全) as a director.
“Under Wei’s leadership, we not only managed to get through difficult times, but we also achieved a tremendous result in first-quarter operations this year,” Mouat told a media briefing yesterday.
The insurance company had a gross premium return of NT$79.6 million in the first two months, with a loss ratio of 35 percent, Chartis said, referring to total losses paid out in claims and adjustment expenses divided by total earned premiums.
Wei said he would take a break for a while before assuming a new position, without elaborating what it would be. However, he said he would continue to help Chartis with its business expansion.
Meanwhile, Chartis Taiwan general manager Jason Tsai (蔡漢凌) said that amid fierce competition in the local insurance market, the company was planning to offer customized property insurance solutions for customers with large assets in the second or third quarter.
“We’ll be the first property insurance company to offer such services in the nation,” Tsai said. “The new insurance coverage will be extended to properties such as personal jets, red wine, works of art and personal collections.”
Shares in Taiwan closed at a new high yesterday, the first trading day of the new year, as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continued to break records amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 386.21 points, or 1.33 percent, at 29,349.81, with turnover totaling NT$648.844 billion (US$20.65 billion). “Judging from a stronger Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, I think foreign institutional investors returned from the holidays and brought funds into the local market,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said. “Foreign investors just rebuilt their positions with TSMC as their top target,
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