First-year premiums (FYPs) generated by the nation’s life insurers continued falling in August, plunging 40 percent annually to NT$47.7 billion (US$1.64 billion), due to new rules restricting firms from offering unrealistically high bonuses to policyholders, a Life Insurance Association’s report last month showed.
It was the eighth consecutive month that insurers’ combined FYPs declined year-on-year, the data showed.
The Financial Supervisory Commission in July implemented a new rule requiring life insurers to set declared interest rates based on fixed-income investments, meaning lower bonus payments for customers, the agency said.
The commission in July lowered life insurance companies’ liability reserve interest rates on all policies denominated in New Taiwan and US dollars by 25 and 50 basis points respectively to keep them in line with market rates.
As a decrease in the liability reserve interest rate led life insurers to raise premiums for new policies, insurance products became more expensive, which also affected sales, the agency said.
A low interest rate environment, volatility in global financial markets and canceled marketing events were also a drag on sales of investment-linked insurance policies (ILPs), the agency said.
Among life insurance policies, which led all products with FYPs, making up 90 percent, traditional products’ first-year premiums retreated 46 percent year-on-year to NT$26 billion in August, while those of ILPs fell by half annually to NT$7 billion, the data showed.
For the first eight months, FYPs of traditional life insurance products fell 33 percent to NT$372 billion, while those of ILPs decreased 45 percent to NT$67 billion, the agency said.
Sales of the annuity policies and injury insurance products declined annually by 19 percent and 8 percent respectively during the January-to-August period, the agency said.
By comparison, health insurance policies’ cumulative FYPs grew 11 percent to NT$29 billion for the first eight months, as consumers became more concerned about their health insurance coverage amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the association said.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS