Taipei-based China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) yesterday said that it has reached an agreement to purchase a portion of Allianz Taiwan Life Insurance Co’s (安聯人壽) life insurance portfolio for NT$1.
The transaction includes a portfolio of approximately 78,000 traditional life insurance policies held by about 44,000 customers that has a guaranteed interest rate of 4 percent, as well as combined IFRS policy reserves of 1.2 billion euros (US$1.41 billion), the companies said.
The companies added that the interests of Allianz Taiwan employees and customers would not be affected by the transaction.
The deal is expected to be completed in the middle of next year, pending approval by regulators and China Life’s shareholders.
Upon completion of the transaction, China Life’s total assets are expected to rise from NT$1.4 trillion to NT$1.45 trillion (US$46.3 billion to US$48 billion).
The company would not have trouble finding yields with the NT$49.8 billion in additional investable capital from the transaction, executive vice president Tony Hsu (許東敏) said at a news conference at the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
“We acquired the policies at a cost of capital of 3.3 percent, while our track record shows that the company has consistently posted investment returns of 4 percent,” Hsu said.
The newly acquired customers would be served by China Life’s 12,000 sales staff, he added.
China Life reported net income of NT$88 million last month, up from NT$73 million the previous year. Its aggregate net income in the first nine months of the year was NT$7.6 billion, down from NT$9.07 billion the previous year.
The sale supports Allianz AG’s strategy to actively manage its life insurance portfolio in Taiwan toward more capital efficient solutions, the company said in a statement, adding that the deal is expected to have a positive impact on its Solvency II capital position.
Allianz remains committed to Taiwan, and the transaction is consistent with the company’s priorities to serve customers with its core unit-linked and protection solutions, regional chief operating officer for Asia Pacific George Sartorel said.
Market observers said Allianz last year tried to sell the same batch of policies to Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽保險), a subsidiary of CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控), but the deal was dropped after it got rejected by the Financial Supervisory Commission.
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