The victory of the Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen in mid-January’s presidential election was no surprise; she had been leading in opinion polls for months. More unexpected was the scale of the triumph – and that of the DPP candidates in the legislative contests. Not only did Tsai win 56.1% of the vote in a…
Green civic organizations are making next January’s legislative elections their next battlefield. Taiwan’s environmental movement is entering a new phase of more direct political activism. On September 21, the Green Party-Social Democratic Party (SDP) Alliance announced that it would field six candidates in next January’s legislative elections, including Green Party Taiwan co-convener Lee Ken-cheng. The…
The Taiwan insurance sector’s long-term sustainability – and its ability to maintain the confidence of the public whose financial welfare it serves – depends on the degree of discipline exercised by both insurers and regulators in ensuring proper risk management. That discipline has already been tested several times in recent years when domestic life insurance…
Innovation is a popular topic in Taiwan these days, recognized as an essential ingredient for this economy’s future development and prosperity. Yet in one crucial market – “non-life” insurance products aimed at protecting consumers and businesses from damage, loss, and liability – innovation has often been stifled by overly rigid regulations. Insurers are required to…
One of the recent issues of concern to the AmCham Taipei Insurance Committee, as discussed in Suggestion 2 of the 2015 Taiwan White Paper, has been the increase in the business tax for financial institutions that took effect in July 2014, raising the rate from 2% to 5%. For insurance companies, the tax is levied…
Formerly, people’s lives seemed to fit neatly into broad demographic categories: the first age of childhood, the productive years of the second age of working life, and the third age of retirement. But as an increasingly large segment of the population approaches retirement age, the question arises of whether enough resources will be available to…
Taiwan has one of the largest life insurance markets in the world, but does that mean the society is among the best protected? Unfortunately not, as both insurers and government regulators agree. In fact, according to experts, Taiwan faces numerous social challenges that are insufficiently met by the types of insurance currently in demand by…
With smartphone penetration rates exceeding 65%, Internet penetration at 80%, and a quarter of the population using at least three connected devices, Taiwan is among the most connected nations in the world. This connectivity is reflected in Taiwan’s surging e-commerce, which has grown on average at 10-20% annually for the past five years, reaching nearly…
In many respects, Taiwan is very well-positioned for smooth development of its insurance market. Among the positive basic characteristics are a well-educated and prosperous population with per capita national income last year of US$19,315. Calculated by purchasing power parity, per capita GDP comes to US$45,900. Taiwan also has a high gross national savings rate of…
State coffers are benefiting from a rise in tax revenue, but Taiwan’s tax-to-GDP ratio remains among the lowest in the developed world. Revisions to tax policy are bringing increased revenue into Taiwan’s national treasury, giving a boost to public finances as the government grapples with ballooning debt and anemic economic growth. Analysts and the government…
