More education is needed on the importance of investment and savings for old age. Taiwan will soon join the ranks of “super aged” societies, with one in five Taiwanese 65 years old or older by 2025. Among the factors regarded as contributing to Taiwan’s extremely low birth rate are stagnant wage levels, which have made…
As global advances in e-commerce and financial technology (“fintech”) catalyze change in insurance markets, how can Taiwan enable insurers to provide individuals and families with the full insurance coverage they need and close the insurance “protection gap”? In the recently published 2017 Taiwan White Paper, the Insurance Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in…
Cigna Corporation has been providing life and supplemental health insurance – and peace of mind – to consumers in Taiwan for the past 27 years. Now Cigna is exploring opportunities to expand beyond insurance to provide health and wellness services in Taiwan leveraging Cigna Corporation’s global health expertise and best practices in other markets around…
Nan Shan takes over Chaoyang Life Insurance Nan Shan Life Insurance was the victor in the Taiwan Insurance Guaranty Fund (TIGF) reverse auction for Chaoyang Life Insurance Co. on January 16, accepting the bailout offer of NT$200 million (US$6.3 million) for taking over Chaoyang’s assets and debts. The deal obligates Nan Shan to honor the…
The fourth case of insolvency is now being dealt with, and the regulators want to assure that it’s the last. Just a few years ago, the shaky financial condition of some of Taiwan’s life insurance companies was a source of nagging concern. At stake were the interests of hundreds of thousands of policyholders and therefore…
TSMC China Plant Gets Green Light Taiwan’s Investment Commission on February 3 approved plans by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to build a US$3-billion 12-inch wafer plant in Nanjing, the largest investment by a Taiwanese chipmaker since the government eased restrictions on wholly owned semiconductor production facilities in China last August. The move by 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…
