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.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS