The nation’s major life insurers this month are continuing to cut the declared interest rates for interest-sensitive products, due to falling bond yields amid a low-interest rate environment, the companies said yesterday.
Life insurers release rates on a monthly basis, based primarily on their investment returns, which they use to calculate policyholders’ distributions.
Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) on Wednesday said it would reduce the declared interest rates for 62 US dollar-denominated policies by a range of 5 to 10 basis points, and those for 77 New Taiwan dollar policies by a range of 1 to 10 basis points.
After the revision, the rates for its US dollar products slid to between 1.95 percent and 3.2 percent, while those of its NT dollar policies fell to a range of 0.47 percent to 1.9 percent, corporate data showed.
Cathay Life, the leading insurer with a market share of 19.19 percent, cut rates as yields of corporate bonds, which make up a big portion of its portfolio, declined last month, with 10-year US Treasury yields remaining at a historically low level, or less than 1 percent, Cathay Life executive vice president Lin Chao-ting (林昭廷) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Meanwhile, the insurer’s cost of foreign exchange hedging remains high, as the NT dollar was the only Asian currency that has kept strengthening against the US dollar over the past few months, which made its hedging programs ineffective, Lin said.
Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽) and Yuanta Life Insurance Co (元大人壽) also lowered rates.
Nan Shan Life kept the rates for its US dollar policies unchanged, but cut the rates for its NT dollar products by 10 basis points, driving the rates to 1.95 percent, corporate data showed.
Yuanta Life slashed the rates for 17 US dollar-denominated policies by a range of 40 to 50 basis points, and rates for 17 NT dollar products by a range of 10 to 25 basis points, it said.
The rates of its US dollar products stand at between 3 percent and 3.2 percent after the cuts, while those of its NT dollar policies hover between 1.9 percent and 2.1 percent, it said.
Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽保險) bucked the trend, raising the rates for its US dollar products by 20 basis points, and increased the rates of a six-year protection-type policy to 3.25 percent, the highest among all US dollar products on the market.
The insurer aimed to bring the rates to a more “normal” level, it said in a statement.
Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽), Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) and China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) did not adjust their rates.
The demise of the coal industry left the US’ Appalachian region in tatters, with lost jobs, spoiled water and countless kilometers of abandoned underground mines. Now entrepreneurs are eyeing the rural region with ambitious visions to rebuild its economy by converting old mines into solar power systems and data centers that could help fuel the increasing power demands of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. One such project is underway by a non-profit team calling itself Energy DELTA (Discovery, Education, Learning and Technology Accelerator) Lab, which is looking to develop energy sources on about 26,305 hectares of old coal land in
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
Netflix on Friday faced fierce criticism over its blockbuster deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. The streaming giant is already viewed as a pariah in some Hollywood circles, largely due to its reluctance to release content in theaters and its disruption of traditional industry practices. As Netflix emerged as the likely winning bidder for Warner Bros — the studio behind Casablanca, the Harry Potter movies and Friends — Hollywood’s elite launched an aggressive campaign against the acquisition. Titanic director James Cameron called the buyout a “disaster,” while a group of prominent producers are lobbying US Congress to oppose the deal,
Two Chinese chipmakers are attracting strong retail investor demand, buoyed by industry peer Moore Threads Technology Co’s (摩爾線程) stellar debut. The retail portion of MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) Co’s (上海沐曦) upcoming initial public offering (IPO) was 2,986 times oversubscribed on Friday, according to a filing. Meanwhile, Beijing Onmicro Electronics Co (北京昂瑞微), which makes radio frequency chips, was 2,899 times oversubscribed on Friday, its filing showed. The bids coincided with Moore Threads’ trading debut, which surged 425 percent on Friday after raising 8 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) on bets that the company could emerge as a viable local competitor to Nvidia
RSS