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By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter
First-year premiums (FYPs) generated by life insurers in Taiwan last month declined for the 10th consecutive month, the Life Insurance Association said in a report released on Monday.
FYPs dropped 25 percent year-on-year to NT$51 billion (US$1.77 billion) last month, but the fall was milder than declines of 30 to 40 percent earlier this year, the report said.
FYPs generated by traditional life insurance products fell 40 percent year-on-year to NT$30.67 billion last month, affected by Financial Supervisory Commission regulations promulgated in July that bar insurers from offering unrealistically high declared interest rates, the report said.
However, investment-linked policies’ FYPs rose 16 percent to NT$20.32 billion, up for the second consecutive month, as consumers welcomed new products with better returns than bank deposits, it said.
In the first 10 months of this year, sales of traditional life insurance products declined 31.3 percent to NT$498 billion, while investment policy sales dropped 24.7 percent to NT$158 billion, the data showed.
Special life insurance policies, such as accident products, reported FYPs declined in the 10-month period, but health insurance policies’ FYPs rose 8.8 percent to NT$35 billion as people became more concerned about their health insurance coverage amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the report said.
Banks’ marketing channels contributed 50 percent to life insurance products’ FYPs in the first 10 months, as banks tend to include those products in their wealth management business, it said.
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