...] Product Innovation Supports Premium Growth Taiwanese life insurers continue to develop new insurance policies to support business growth, and bring down the cost of insurance liabilities. First-year premium (FYP) growth is volatile due to significant contributions from cyclical products, such as interest-sensitive annuities and short-term endowment policies. Foreign currency-denominated products are gaining popularity; these could provide better returns to customers than Taiwan dollar-denominated policies, and reduce the currency mismatches between assets with increasing foreign investments and liabilities. The sector's FYP decreased 6.6% to TWD500bn in 1H15; the decline would have been 0.9% if revenues from policies with no significant insurance risk protection elements were included. Taking on More Asset Risk for Yields Taiwanese life insurers have been investing in higher-risk assets for better yields. They have increased overseas investments (mostly fixed-income) since the early 2000s,...
