American International Assurance Co (AIA), the largest insurer in the Asia-Pacific region by overall premiums, yesterday unveiled an aggressive expansion plan, including a capital injection of US$100 million to tap the local market in the next few years.
The insurer’s local branch, which has relied heavily on telemarketing for sales of insurance policies for the past two decades, plans to create a technological sales team to strengthen its business in Taiwan, AIA Taiwan chief executive officer Choo Sin Fook (朱信福) said.
“We have drawn up an innovative business model and aim to hire up to 3,000 local sales agents familiar with tablet computers and Skype software applications to advance sales of protection insurance products,” Choo said.
To that end, the parent company in Hong Kong plans to invest US$100 million in fresh capital over the next few years to strengthen infrastructure facilities and sales staff, Choo said.
Revelations that 80 percent of Taiwanese prefer face-to-face communication when weighing protection insurance policy purchases warranted the business strategy change, he said.
Taiwanese lead global peers in terms of insurance premiums, but lag far behind when measured by insurance amount, Choo said.
“We aim to narrow the gap, which promises great business opportunities,” he said. “We’re looking for prospective colleagues who share the agenda.”
Currently, each Taiwanese owns 2.03 insurance policies, with insurance amount averaged at two years of annual per capita income, Choo said, adding the international standard stands at 10 years.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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