The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has fined China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) NT$1.5 million (US$48,228) over breaches of the Insurance Act (保險法), as the insurer failed to determine that clients had insured employees without their consent, the agency said yesterday.
Taipei-based China Life sold three interest-sensitive annuity policies to one corporate client, which claimed it bought the products as part of retirement plans for employees, Insurance Bureau Deputy Director-General Chang Yu-hui (張玉煇) told a news conference.
However, the client failed to confirm with its employees if they agreed to be insured and did not ask the policyholders to submit documents regarding employee benefits, contravening regulations governing business solicitation, policy underwriting and claim adjustment by insurance enterprises, Chang said.
Insurance companies should check the holder’s purpose for the policy and whether those to be insured have given their consent before the purchase, she said.
China Life also sold three savings insurance policies to another two corporate clients, which said that they wanted to insure important employees to avoid losses if they were hurt in an accident, Chang said.
“The clients’ claims were not true. They should have purchased protection policies, such as injury or life insurance, rather than policies linked with wealth management, but China Life failed to detect the discrepancy,” Chang said.
China Life was fined NT$600,000 for the sales to the three companies.
Usually, if companies offer retirement savings, group annuities are used as an incentive to retain employees, Chang said.
After group annuities were approved by the regulator in June 2016, six life insurers had sold such products to 162 companies as of the end of May, with cumulative premiums totaling NT$1.13 billion, the commission said.
China Life was fined another NT$900,000 over breaches of regulations governing transactions with interested parties, Chang said.
China Life let a director attend a board meeting, despite the director having a conflict of interest — an issue that was discussed at the meeting — she said.
China Life said it has reviewed its marketing program and would make adjustments, China Life president Stephanie Hwang (黃淑芬) said in a regulatory filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
Japan approved ￥631.5 billion (US$3.97 billion) in additional subsidies to hasten Rapidus Corp’s entry into the high-stakes artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaking arena, ramping up support for a project widely regarded as a long shot. The capital is intended to bankroll Rapidus’ work for information technology firm Fujitsu Ltd, one of the initial customers that Tokyo hopes would get the signature endeavor off the ground. The new money raises the fees and investments that the government is injecting into the start-up to ￥2.6 trillion by the end of the current fiscal year to March next year, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and
The founder of Chinese property giant Evergrande Group (恆大集團) has pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and bribery, a court said yesterday, the latest blow for what was once the country’s leading developer. Evergrande’s rise was propelled by decades of rapid urbanization and rising living standards, but in 2020, its access to credit dramatically narrowed when the government introduced curbs on excessive borrowing and speculation. The company defaulted in 2021 after struggling to repay creditors. Founder Xu Jiayin (許家印), 67, known as Hui Ka Yan in Cantonese, was reportedly held by police in 2023, with Evergrande saying he had been subjected to
RSS