CARDIF Assurance Taiwan remains cautiously upbeat about achieving double-digit growth this year after gross written premiums reached NT$21.29 billion (US$731.62 million) in the first seven months from the same period in the previous year, the company said.
The figures translated into a market share of 3.42 percent, earning the French company eighth place in the insurance industry in Taiwan.
“Growing economic uncertainties will dampen consumer spending, but shore up need for risk management insurance products,” CARDIF Taiwan general manager Ruth Wu (吳澔如) told a media briefing.
Major economic bellwethers suggest tough challenges ahead as consumers are set to trim expenditures amid deepening recession concerns, making sales of insurance products difficult, Wu said.
CARDIF, which relies on domestic banks’ sales channels to sell products, aims to underscore the importance of protection insurance and unit-linked investment policies with greater flexibility, Wu said.
Sales of unit-linked products totaled NT$119.7 billion during the January-to-July period, accounting for 92 percent of the company’s portfolio and a market share of 14.47 percent, second only to Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), the life insurance arm of Cathay Financial Holdings Co (國泰金控), CARDIF Taiwan said.
General fund policies and accidental and health insurance policies made up a tiny 5 percent and 3 percent respectively, even though CARDIF beat its peers in terms of mortgage insurance revenue, the company indicated.
The ongoing equity corrections at home and abroad, while dampening consumer confidence, are not likely to wreak havoc on the world economy as the global financial crisis of 2008 did, Wu said.
First year premiums on unit-linked policies amounted to NT$18.8 billion for the first seven months, rising 6 percent from the same period a year earlier and ranking first in bancassurance sales, company data indicated.
Wu attributed her optimism to the increasing weight of bancassurance in the sales of insurance products.
As of July 31, bancassurance sales generated NT$323.7 billion worth of first-year premiums, contributing 56 percent, while sales agents provided another 40 percent, CARDIF Taiwan said.
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