Sales of insurance policies online dived 37.3 percent year-on-year to NT$2.49 billion (US$87.57 million) last year, as people lost interest in interest-sensitive annuities amid falling returns and bought fewer travel insurance policies due to border controls, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said on Tuesday.
The number of travel insurance policies sold online plummeted 68 percent annually to 156,683, the lowest in three years, while first-year premiums (FYP) generated from such policies dropped 72 percent year-on-year to NT$35 million last year, commission data showed.
The number of interest-sensitive annuities sold online plunged 76 percent to 4,232, while the FYPs they generated fell 67 percent to NT$767 million, the data showed.
Interest-sensitive annuities were not as popular because many life insurers cut their declared interest rates amid a global rate cut cycle, Insurance Bureau Director Tsai Huo-yen (蔡火炎) said.
Declared interest rates decide the distributions a policyholder gains.
By comparison, accident insurance products, including car and scooter insurance policies, had mild growth in the number of policies sold online and the FYPs they generated, as demand for such products was not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said.
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