Thu, Mar 17, 2005 page11

• Decision on investment ceiling expected in June

  INSURANCE INDUSTRY The Insurance Bureau's new boss said the issue of raising the limit from 35 percent to 50 percent of working capital is under deliberation

  • By Amber Chung and Jackie Lin / STAFF REPORTERS
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  Insurance authorities said yesterday that they will made a final decision on whether to raise the ceiling on domestic insurers' overseas investments within the next three months.

  "The decision is expected to be made by the end of June after a review by the Cabinet, and the proposal will be directed to the Legislative Yuan for review by the end of this year," Huang Tien-mu (黃天牧), the newly appointed director-general of the Insurance Bureau, said yesterday at a press conference.

  Under the Insurance Law (保險法), local insurers can only appropriate a maximum of 35 percent of their working capital to invest in foreign markets.

  Chen Wei-lung (陳惟龍), the bureau's deputy director general, said the bureau is discussing two proposals prepared by the Life Insurance Association of the ROC (人壽保險公會).

  "The association suggested the government either raise the overseas investment ceiling from 35 percent to 50 percent, or not to include the proportion of the insurers' overseas hedge investment into the 35 percent limit," Chen said.

  On Tuesday, the commission's vice chairman Lu Daung-yen (呂東英) said the commission and the central bank had reached a consensus on easing the limits on overseas investments, but he declined to give a timetable for the policy change.

  According to the bureau's statistics, local insurers placed an average of 27.75 percent of their working capital in overseas investments as of the end of last year, with more than 80 percent of the capital put in hedge investments, 6 percent in the local bourse and the rest on other investment options, including real estate, bonds and exchequer bills.

  Some life insurers, including Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽) and Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽), have seen their overseas investment exceed 30 percent of working capital, the bureau said.

  Domestic insurers' working capital has surpassed NT$5 trillion (US$160 billion), and they will be able to divert, at most, NT$750 billion overseas, on top of the original amount of money, after the ratio is raised by 15 percentage points to 50 percent.

  Nevertheless, Huang said the authorities are not worried about capital outflow or a negative impact on the domestic capital market.

  He said it is not easy for insurers to liquidate their property investments and divert the money abroad in the short term. The US$82 billion worth of foreign capital inflow that goes mainly to the local bourse could make up for the amount of capital they may withdraw, he said.

  Earlier yesterday, Huang formally replaced Mark Wei (魏寶生) as the bureau's director-general at a hand-over ceremony.

  Wei said he decided to leave for "personal career plans," although he declined to say what he will do next. There has been intense speculation that he may join a foreign insurance company here.

  Huang, 47, holds a doctoral degree in public administration from the University of Southern California. He was the Financial Supervisory Commission's first secretary-general after the Cabinet-level agency was established last July. Prior to that post Huang had worked at the Ministry of Finance's financial bureau.

  Huang yesterday pledged to amend the Insurance Law (保險法), implement grading management of insurance products starting in July and help insurers set up new businesses for the new labor pension system.
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