Cardif Assurance Taiwan aims to grow its revenue by 20 percent this year by focusing on sales of unit-linked and mortgage life insurance polices after overall premiums declined last year amid market volatility, company general manager Ruth Wu (吳澔如) said yesterday.
The local unit of the French insurance company, the world’s 15th-largest, posted NT$36.7 billion (US$1.24 billion) in total premiums last year, down 8.25 percent from NT$40 billion in 2010, as Europe’s debt crisis dampened demand for unit-linked insurance products, Wu said.
Unit-linked products underpinned the local branch’s revenue last year with NT$34 billion, contributing 92.6 percent, while mortgage life insurance policies accounted for 4 percent with NT$1.3 billion, company data showed.
While the sales figures missed the company’s double-digit growth targets, they gave Cardif Taiwan a market share of 48.6 percent for unit-linked products and 26 percent for mortgage insurance products, outperforming all their peers, Wu said.
“We intend to maintain our leadership by deepening cooperation with local banks and tapping more partners to expand our sales network,” Wu told a media briefing in Yilan County.
Despite lingering concerns over Europe’s debt problems and a fragile US economy, investor confidence has gradually recovered, as evidenced by stabilizing sales of unit-linked products this quarter, Wu said.
Taiwan’s economy is expected to stage a mild recovery this year, “shoring up our confidence the growth target this year is achievable,” she said.
In particular, Cardif Taiwan aims to boost its market share in mortgage insurance to 30 percent this year, Wu said, adding that there was plenty of room for growth given a low market penetration rate.
Only about 15 percent of Taiwanese mortgage loans — valued at more than NT$5 trillion — is covered by insurance, Wu said.
That compares with 70 percent in France, she said.
Cardif Taiwan intends to add 150 to 200 telemarketing staffers this year after bancassurance generated 57 percent of its total sales in Taiwan last year, down from 64 percent a year ago, Wu said.
The trend suggests this sales channel has likely peaked, which is not a negative development for the industry and has no impact on Cardif Taiwan, she said.
Cardif Taiwan cooperates with Taishin International Bank (台新銀行), Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀) and Ta Chong Bank (大眾銀行) in selling unit-linked policies and counts on Chang Hwa Bank (彰化銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) and Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank (上海商銀) to promote mortgage life insurance, among other partners.
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