...Life Insurers' Pressure Eases: Fitch Ratings believes the negative-interest spreads arising from legacy high-guaranteed-rate policies will constrain the profitability of Taiwan's life insurance companies at least in the near term, and maintains the negative outlook on this sector. However, Fitch expects the earnings pressure to ease as interest rates rise, and the cost of insurance liabilities continues to drop as insurers sell more low-guaranteed-rate policies. Non-Life Insurers Remain Solid: The stable outlook on Taiwan's non-life insurance sector is supported by a strong industry-wide capital buffer and its satisfactory underwriting performance. Rising rates will benefit their investment yields, and further support their bottom-line profitability. Negative-Spread Burden Varies: Fitch believes large insurers would have lighter negative- spread burden with funding costs generally at below 3.5% (after including mortality and morbidity profits and loading gains), while some small insurers...
