China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) saw its net income drop 25 percent to NT$1.56 billion (US$51.8 million) last quarter from a year earlier, while first-year premiums increased by 66 percent, senior executives said yesterday.
The Taipei-based life insurer, Taiwan’s fourth-largest by market share, attributed the softened showing to a lack of currency-linked investment income last quarter, whereas a weak New Taiwan dollar boosted earnings last year, company chairman Alan Wang (王銘陽) told an investors’ conference in Taipei.
The profit slowdown came even though first-year premiums (FYP) gained 66 percent year-on-year to NT$28.77 billion during the January-to-March period, thanks to increased cooperation with different banks, Wang said.
China Life will continue to focus on savings-like insurance policies this year as they enjoy higher popularity over the bancassurance sales channel though they generate lower yields, Wang said.
PREMIUM CONTRIBUTIONS
Bancassurance accounted for 76 percent of FYP last quarter, rising from 64 percent a year earlier, while sales agents and brokers contributed 8 percent and 2 percent respectively, company data showed.
Investment generated 3.88 percent yields in the first quarter, down from 4.44 percent a year earlier, China Life president Kuo Yu-ling (郭瑜玲) said, adding that the company has not had a negative interest spread for several years.
The company also updated its embedded value, which rose 24.5 percent to NT$118.07 billion as of December last year, from NT$94.82 billion at the end of 2012, Wang said.
INCREASED CIRCULATION
The reappraisal translated into NT$43.37 in earnings per share, up only 9.2 percent from NT$39.71 due to an increase of shares circulated on the market, Wang said.
Shares in China Life closed up 0.56 percent to NT$26.85 yesterday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed, or about 62 percent of the company’s embedded value, Wang said.
“The local bourse seems to undervalue China Life’s worth because in other countries a life insurance company’s market price is about the same as or higher than its embedded value,” Wang said.
China Life does not plan to book unrealized property gains as the accounting practice would require revaluation expense of NT$10 million a year, Kuo said.
Real-estate properties account for 3.5 percent of the portfolio and the company intends to raise the ratio to 5 to 8 percent, Wang said, adding the company is looking for investment opportunities at home and abroad.
JIAN XIN LIFE
CCB Life (建信人壽), a subsidiary of China Construction Bank Corp (中國建設銀行) in which China Life owns a 20 percent stake, plans to delay its listing pace until it generates higher return on equities, Wang said without elaborating.
Jian Xin Life is aggressively expanding its presence in China by adding four to five offices a year until it has outlets in all major Chinese cities, Kuo said, adding that the quick expansion diminishes the pace of returns.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last