Several more insurers are likely to join Cathay Century Insurance Co (國泰世紀產險) and CTBC Insurance Co (中國信託產險) in plans to inject additional capital in the second half of this year, after writing off 5.43 million insurance policies as of yesterday, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said.
Cathay Century and CTBC have reported to the commission that they intend to conduct capital injections of NT$10 billion (US$336.41 million) to NT$4 billion respectively, Insurance Bureau Director-General Shih Chiung-hwa (施瓊華) told a virtual news conference.
The commission expects several insurers to follow suit this year after they have a better understanding of the losses expected from COVID-19 insurance policy compensations, Shih said.
Fubon Insurance Co (富邦產險) on Wednesday said that it has assigned more staff members to address the sales of COVID-19 insurance policies.
Additionally, during May and last month Fubon compensated 103,000 policyholders with combined payments of NT$4.08 billion, 15 times its NT$260 million payouts from January to April, it said.
The FSC is to continue monitoring disputes between policyholders and insurance companies, Shih said.
Meanwhile, local property insurers reported a combined pretax loss of NT$16.2 billion in May from COVID-19 insurance compensation payouts and setting aside reserves to cushion further losses, Shih said.
The losses in May erase property insurers’ net profits for the first half of the year and led to a cumulative pretax loss of NT$9.6 billion as of the end of May, the commission said.
Life insurance providers in contrast reported a combined pretax loss of NT$7.1 billion in May, in light of greater foreign exchange losses, tumbling stocks and lower unrealized bond gains amid central bank rate hikes worldwide, the commission said.
Because of a rapid appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar versus the US dollar, the insurers’ combined forex losses tallied NT$33.3 billion in May, hitting a 13-month high, the data showed.
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