Taiwan's Life Insurers' FYP Drops Over 9% in First Four Months

Taipei, May 19, 2011 (CENS)--Taiwan's life-insurance industry scored NT$335.2 billion in first-year premium (FYP) revenues in the first four months of this year, down over 9% year-on-year, according to statistics compiled by the Life Insurance Association of the Republic of China (LIA-ROC).

The FYP revenue totaled NT$68.9 billion in April alone, down almost 29% from a year earlier, with the almost double-digit slide in first-four-month FYPs to virtually make impossible achieving FYP revenue totaling NT$1 trillion this year.

The industry blames such decline on the sharp drop in sales of interest-variable annuity as the Insurance Bureau stipulates domestic life insurers to collect surcharges on such products.

The LIA-ROC's tallies show that domestic life-insurers sold only NT$33 billion in interest-variable annuity in the first four months, plummeting 78% year-on-year from NT$152 billion.

In terms of FYP revenues in the first four months, Cathay Life led with NT$98.4 billion, down 18% from a year earlier, albeit maintaining a 30% market share. Fubon Assurance ranked second with NT$67.3 billion, down 28%. China Life Insurance came in third with NT$28.3 billion, up 42%, followed by Shin Kong Life with NT$27.8 billion, up 28%, and MassMutual Mercuries Life with NT$13.7 billion, up 76%.