Local life insurers would be allowed to reclassify their financial assets under the International Financial Reporting Standards 9 (IFRS 9) to reflect the effects of rate hikes on their liabilities, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday.
The move is also expected to help insurers mitigate the effects on their financial gauges of aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, especially the equity-to-asset ratio, the commission said.
The commission made the announcement after the Accounting Research and Development Foundation on Thursday approved a proposal to reclassify assets.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
“The FSC respects the accounting foundation’s decision and we will let insurance companies to decide themselves whether to reclassify financial assets,” Insurance Bureau Deputy Director-General Thomas Chang (張玉煇) told an online news conference. “The management and the accountants should explain explicitly the necessity of reclassification, and make announcement in advance.”
The commission would also require insurers to set up special reserves if they plan asset reclassifications to maintain a solid financial profile, Chang said.
Insurers can reclassify their financial assets from this month, the commission said.
Seven life insurers reported that their equity-to-asset gauges dropped below the 3 percent minimum as investment values plummeted amid rate hikes.
Insurers including Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) last week said rate hikes affected their assets and liabilities, but the accounting rules only enabled them to reflect the impact on assets.
The commission yesterday also said that the tighter IFRS 17 would take effect in Taiwan in 2026, allowing time for local insurers to adjust their accounting, actuarial, investment and risk control systems.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) secured a record 70.2 percent share of the global foundry business in the second quarter, up from 67.6 percent the previous quarter, and continued widening its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday. TSMC posted US$30.24 billion in sales in the April-to-June period, up 18.5 percent from the previous quarter, driven by major smartphone customers entering their ramp-up cycle and robust demand for artificial intelligence chips, laptops and PCs, which boosted wafer shipments and average selling prices, TrendForce said in a report. Samsung’s sales also grew in the second quarter, up
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump weighed in on a pressing national issue: The rebranding of a restaurant chain. Last week, Cracker Barrel, a Tennessee company whose nationwide locations lean heavily on a cozy, old-timey aesthetic — “rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table” — announced it was updating its logo. Uncle Herschel, the man who once appeared next to the letters with a barrel, was gone. It sparked ire on the right, with Donald Trump Jr leading a charge against the rebranding: “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel?!” Later, Trump Sr weighed
HEADWINDS: Upfront investment is unavoidable in the merger, but cost savings would materialize over time, TS Financial Holding Co president Welch Lin said TS Financial Holding Co (台新新光金控) said it would take about two years before the benefits of its merger with Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) become evident, as the group prioritizes the consolidation of its major subsidiaries. “The group’s priority is to complete the consolidation of different subsidiaries,” Welch Lin (林維俊), president of the nation’s fourth-largest financial conglomerate by assets, told reporters during its first earnings briefing since the merger took effect on July 24. The asset management units are scheduled to merge in November, followed by life insurance in January next year and securities operations in April, Lin said. Banking integration,
LOOPHOLES: The move is to end a break that was aiding foreign producers without any similar benefit for US manufacturers, the US Department of Commerce said US President Donald Trump’s administration would make it harder for Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc to ship critical equipment to their chipmaking operations in China, dealing a potential blow to the companies’ production in the world’s largest semiconductor market. The US Department of Commerce in a notice published on Friday said that it was revoking waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix to use US technologies in their Chinese operations. The companies had been operating in China under regulations that allow them to import chipmaking equipment without applying for a new license each time. The move would revise what is known
RSS