Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) on Tuesday reported a net loss of NT$4.06 billion (US$127.52 million) for last month as its non-life insurance unit faced sizeable COVID-19 claims.
Fubon Financial last reported a net loss of NT$5.06 billion in December 2018. It and Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) were the only two companies among the nation’s 15 financial holding firms to report losses last month.
Fubon Insurance Co (富邦產險) last month faced NT$14.09 billion in claims filed by COVID-19 insurance policyholders and reported a net loss of NT$9.77 billion, company data showed.
Photo courtesy of Fubon Financial Holding Co
Fubon Insurance’s considerable losses pared net profit made by other units, such as Fubon Life Insurance Co’s (富邦人壽) NT$4.55 billion and Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank’s (台北富邦銀行) NT$1.38 billion, the company said.
For the first nine months of the year, Fubon Insurance paid a combined NT$39 billion to 867,000 policyholders, NT$23.6 billion of which the company paid itself, with the rest being covered through reinsurance. It reported cumulate net losses of NT$16.96 billion in the nine-month period.
Fubon Insurance said that sales of property policies such as construction insurance grew for the first three quarters, and its income from premiums rose 6.7 percent year-on-year to NT$42.2 billion, enabling it to lead the market with a share of 25 percent.
Fubon Life Insurance’s net profit dropped 13 percent last month amid global market routs, with cumulative net profit falling 12.6 percent to NT$83.6 billion from a year earlier.
In contrast, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank reported a 30 percent annual rise in net profit last month on the back of increasing net interest income and its growing credit card business.
Its cumulative net profit in the first nine months grew 29 percent annually to NT$18 billion, it said.
Rival Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) remained in the black last month, but its net profit fell to the lowest in 45 months at NT$1.12 billion, driven by a net loss of NT$3.47 billion at Cathay Century Insurance Co (國泰世紀產險).
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