Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽) last month posted a net loss of NT$5 million (US$164,355) due to exchange-rate volatility, investment losses and a ban on any new investment-linked policies.
The loss ranked Nan Shan, which last year was the most profitable life insurer in Taiwan, as second-worst for earnings among domestic insurers last month, only better than Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽), which posted a net loss of NT$253 million.
Exchange-rate volatility last month caused its hedging costs to rise as the New Taiwan dollar appreciated sharply against the US dollar, Nan Shan said in a statement.
The insurer said that last month, it disposed of some bonds and stocks that were not lucrative, which produced investment losses.
The insurer’s first-year premiums (FYP) last month plunged 59 percent from a year earlier to NT$6.92 billion, after the Financial Supervisory Commission banned it from selling new investment-linked policies from the middle of September due to its failure to resolve problems with its new information technology system.
The policies used to account for about 45 percent of all first-year premiums, data released by Nan Shan and the commission showed.
The insurer’s cumulative first-year premiums fell 8 percent annually to NT$150.56 billion for the first 10 months of the year, Nan Shan data showed.
The insurer’s inability to sell investment-linked policies has put a serious dent in its business, Nan Shan labor union president Yan Ching-lung (嚴慶龍) told the Taipei Times yesterday.
Nan Shan’s pool of foreign currencies shrank without the premiums generated from investment-linked policies — which are mostly denominated in US dollars — and the insurer had fewer funds that could be used for overseas investments, Yan said.
Nan Shan could resume selling the policies after its system is fixed and it passes an inspection by an independent third party, the commission said.
Despite the net losses for last month, the insurer reported a cumulative net profit of NT$38.72 billion for the first 10 months, up 42 percent year-on-year.
That was followed by Cathay Life Insurance Co’s (國泰人壽) net profit of NT$32.63 billion over the same period, Fubon Life Insurance Co’s (富邦人壽) NT$27.43 billion, Shin Kong Life’s NT$13.28 billion, Taiwan Life Insurance Co’s (台灣人壽) NT$14.37 billion and China Life Insurance Co’s (中國人壽) NT$13.87 billion, data showed.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in