Taipei Times: Can you briefly describe ING Antai Life Insurance and the role it has played in helping develop Taiwan's life insurance industry over the past 14 years?
Patrick Poon (
We didn't [invent] these practices, as many foreign companies abroad had already been implementing them. But in the Taiwan insurance market more than a decade ago, every insurer was in consensus that policyholders should have uniform premium rates, which I think was only good for the companies involved.
Through the years, we have done a lot to help make the change in terms of creative products and professional services. But more importantly we have made life insurance a very interesting industry for young people to find a career in.
It's not easy because life insurance is a very difficult product to sell and in the past not many people wanted to join this industry. In the past the situation was always that if you couldn't find a job elsewhere then you would finally go sell life insurance [laughs].
TT: How tough is the competition in the domestic life insurance industry?
Poon: I think the competition exists on the competition's turf. I don't see any competition [for Antai] at all. Basically, the life insurance industry has plenty of market potential in Taiwan because many people here still don't have enough life insurance. But if you are actually not creative and are only doing things that the others do, then you'll see a lot of competition.
TT: When ING Group decided to acquire Aetna Financial Services and Aetna International in 2000, it was a major event in the financial services industry. What was the synergy for the acquisition?
Poon: Following the announcement of the acquisition, the Taiwan branch of Aetna Life Insurance Co of America was later combined with the Taiwan branch of Life Insurance Company of Georgia and became ING Antai Life Insurance in 2001. Basically ING sees the value Antai in Taiwan has in the management team. ING is a large multinational group and is the biggest life insurance company in America -- but its presence in Asia is lacking. So acquiring Antai will make them a significant player in this region. Now ING is the No. 2 life insurance company in Asia.
As for Antai, the acquisition is good in the sense that Antai is now backed by a large, strong financial institution like ING with rich resources in research reports and technology platforms. With a new team and new [energy], we are convinced we will attain our goal of becoming the No. 1 life insurance company in Taiwan within four years.
The acquisition also bodes well for both firms in the China market. While ING is a multinational company and [therefore] qualified to enter the China market, without adequate knowledge of Chinese people and culture it cannot be successful there. But with a solid base like Antai in Taiwan, ING is able to know more about the Chinese market before they really set foot there. It's a good marriage.
TT: What impact will Taiwan's WTO accession have on the domestic life insurance market?
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