A total of 465,689 insurance policies were sold online in Taiwan in the first quarter, down 25 percent from a year earlier, as demand for international travel insurance and interest-sensitive annuities fell due to border controls and falling returns respectively, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) data showed.
Property insurers sold 437,772 policies online, down 20 percent from a year earlier, while life insurers reported 61 percent less in sold policies at 27,917, the data showed.
Life insurer’s interest-sensitive annuities took a hit from reduced declared interest rates, which decide the monthly bonus that policyholders could earn, the commission said in a statement.
Photo courtesy of Chung Kuo Insurance Co
A total of 821 interest-sensitive annuities were sold during the January-to-March period, with first-year premiums of NT$145 million (US$5.23 million), both halved from a year earlier, the data showed.
Travel insurance products also lost momentum due to ongoing border controls amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with 13,136 policies sold last quarter, down 44 percent from a year earlier. Their first-year premiums were NT$3.29 million, also down 68 percent year-on-year, the data showed.
Customers still purchased travel insurance for their domestic trips, but sales were lower due to cheaper insurance charges, the commission said.
As a result, life insurers saw their combined first-year premiums fall by 46 percent year-on-year to NT$158 million in the first three months, the data showed.
On the other hand, property insurers’ first-year premiums rose 19 percent annually to NT$466 million, as their losses from travel insurance sales were offset by double-digit percentage growth in sales of scooter insurance, the data showed.
About 215,000 scooter insurance policies were sold, with premiums totaling NT$183 million in the first quarter, nearly double that of a year earlier, as more scooter owners preferred buying the compulsory insurance and additional coverage online for discounts, the commission said.
Overall first-year premiums of all online insurance policies declined 9 percent to NT$624 million in the first three months, it said.
Online sales of insurance might pick up this quarter, as insurance companies began selling virus and medical insurance against COVID-19 online from this month, which could attract customers, the commission said.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
Handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) on Sunday reported a 6.71 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for the third quarter, despite revenue last month hitting the highest level in 11 months. Third-quarter revenue was NT$17.68 billion (US$581.2 million), compared with NT$18.95 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The figure was in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$17.9 billion, but missed the market consensus estimate of NT$18.97 billion. The third-quarter revenue was a 51.44 percent increase from NT$11.67 billion in the second quarter, as the quarter is usually the peak
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Pegatron Corp (和碩), a key assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Thursday reported a 12.3 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for last quarter to NT$257.86 billion (US$8.44 billion), but it expects revenue to improve in the second half on traditional holiday demand. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season for its communications products, a company official said on condition of anonymity. As Apple released its new iPhone 17 series early last month, sales in the communications segment rose sequentially last month, the official said. Shipments to Apple have been stable and in line with earlier expectations, they said. Pegatron shipped 2.4 million notebook
RSS