Taiwan's Life Insurance Agents Up to 188,000 at End of October

Taipei, Nov. 26, 2012 (CENS)--Taiwan's life insurance agents totaled 188,591 as of the end of October, up 3,351 over the end of last year for the sharpest increase in a decade, according to the statistics compiled by The Life Insurance Association of the Republic of China.

The number of agents has been on a downtrend from the peak of 266,951 in 2002 to 183,512 at the end of 2011, primarily due to a low interest environment making insurance sales difficult and hence forcing agents to quit.

However, the downtrend is reversing this year, due to more job seekers in Taiwan, higher guaranteed salary and better career training offered by insurers attracting more applicants, said industry insiders.

Taiwan's life insurance industry once saw agent number slightly increase in 2008, when the global financial tsunami rocked the labor market.

Among Taiwanese life insurers, Cathay Life Insurance had the most agents of 50,334 at the end of October, around 20,000 of whom being career agents. Nan Shan Life had 34,000 agents, down 81 from the end of 2011, and Fubon Life Insurance employed 29.800 agents, up 2,713.

Industry insiders pointed out that the retention rate for newly recruited agents is likely to rise this year for the abovementioned reasons, compared to only around 50% seen in the past.