The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on Wednesday said that it would scrutinize the financial health of the buyer of Prudential Life Insurance Co of Taiwan (保德信人壽) after local media reported that potential buyers submitted bids on Monday.
“The buyer’s financial strength must be solid enough to support the newly acquired life insurance business, and we will check its double leverage ratio and other gauges that show capital adequacy,” a Banking Bureau official told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Financial strength is critical as local life insurers must adopt International Financial Reporting Standards 17 in five years, which have stricter rules on the calculation of liabilities, the official said.
The buyer must be knowledgeable and competent in the insurance business, protect the rights of policyholders and honor all old policies, the official said, adding that the buyer is expected to retain part of the business’ staff and commit to operating it long-term.
Ruen Chen Investment Holding Co (潤成投資) had to commit to not selling Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽) for a decade when it acquired the insurance company in 2011, the official said.
The commission rejected Taishin Financial Holding Co’s (台新金控) application to acquire New York Life Insurance Taiwan Corp (紐約人壽) in 2013, and turned down IBF Financial Holdings Co’s (國票金控) application to acquire MetLife Taiwan Insurance Co (大都會人壽) in 2010, the official added.
“The FSC has the power to veto a sale, so sellers in the financial industry usually take into account the commission’s criteria when reviewing buyers’ profiles, as they do not want to waste their time by selecting a buyer that would fail the regulator’s assessment,” a market analyst said.
The local unit of US-based Prudential Financial Inc on Wednesday confirmed that it is exploring strategic options, including a sale, but did not elaborate.
Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) on Tuesday announced in a regulatory filing that its board of directors on Monday approved tendering a bid for an insurance company, without naming the company for the sake of confidentiality.
The Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported that First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) and Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行) had participated in the tender.
“It is understandable that some financial conglomerates without insurance units sought to acquire the foreign insurer, as the deal would give them new profit momentum, although they would face more pressure to retain capital adequacy,” Huang Der-yeh (黃達業), emeritus director of National Taiwan University’s Center for the Study of Banking and Finance, said by telephone.
Prudential Life Insurance Co of Taiwan, which began operations in 1990, has 700 sales personnel and 300 employees.
Its net worth fell to NT$7.2 billion (US$240.59 million) at the end of March, from NT$9 billion at the end of last year, company data showed.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) founder Jack Ma (馬雲) has been living in Tokyo for almost six months after disappearing from public view following China’s crackdown on the tech sector, the Financial Times reported yesterday, citing multiple unnamed sources. The billionaire has kept a low profile since the crackdown, which has included Chinese regulators scrapping the initial public offering of Ma’s Ant Group Co (螞蟻集團) and issuing Alibaba with record fines. However, the Times said he has spent much of the past six months with his family in Tokyo and other parts of Japan, along with visits to the US and Israel. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is to build a wafer fab deploying 1 nanometer (nm) process technology at the Longtan (龍潭) campus of Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), Hsinchu Science Park Bureau Director-General Wayne Wang (王永壯) said yesterday. The bureau completed a pilot project in the middle of last month for the third expansion phase of the Longtan Science Park (龍潭科學園區) in Taoyuan to accommodate the new TSMC plant, Wang told a news conference. The pilot expansion project has been submitted to the National Science and Technology Council, which would next forward the project to the Cabinet for approval, Wang said. “The efforts
Netherlands-based ASML Holding NV, a leading global supplier of semiconductor production equipment, is considering bringing its European suppliers to Taiwan, doubling down on its supply-chain deployment in the country, Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said yesterday. That follows ASML’s announcement that it would build manufacturing facilities in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口) to support international customers and the development of the semiconductor industry. RELOCATION Shen did not disclose details about ASML’s new efforts to relocate European supply chains to Taiwan. ASML is to begin construction on the New Taipei City project in July, Shen said during a speech at a technology forum
GLOBAL EXPANSION: The manufacturer said it increased its stake in the Chinese unit to 1.5 billion yuan and started rolling out electric Lordstown trucks at its Ohio plant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) has increased its investments in the Czech Republic and China by more than NT$6 billion (US$196 million) as part of its global expansion. The company, known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, has also begun shipping electric pickup trucks produced for US brand Lordstown Motors Corp. In a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing on Friday, Hon Hai said it has raised investments in its Czech subsidiary Foxteq CZ by US$58.98 million through its PCE Paragon Solutions Kft unit. In the Czech Republic, Hon Hai has a research-and-development center and a product design center, and it assembles monitors, cellphones,
RSS