BestWeek Asia-Pacific: Niche Retirement, Wealth Markets Beckon for Taiwan’s Life Insurers

HONG KONG–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

Niche markets in retirement and wealth management will be the next
domestic growth engines for Taiwan’s life insurers, who will also need
to learn from their European counterparts how to balance risk and
capital management, according to an article in the latest BestWeek
Asia-Pacific.

Taiwan’s life insurance market has been sluggish since 2008 as the
global financial crisis triggering capital adequacy and solvency
concerns among foreign players, which eventually pulled out. This also
created an aftermath “negative spread” problem among western insurers
who gave up their local businesses, such as U.K.’s Prudential plc,
Netherlands-based Aegon and ING Group, and U.S.-based MassMutual, said
Paul Melody, head of life insurance consulting at Towers Watson in
Greater China, in an interview.

But like China, there are opportunities in the savings and retirement
sectors along with an expanding aging population, Melody said.

BestWeek Asia-Pacific also features the final in a series on
takaful regulation in the Gulf Cooperation Council and how policyholder
protection is a key aspect in considering takaful companies.

The Feb. 12 edition is available at www.bestweek.com/asia
and www.bestweek.com.

BestWeek is published by A.M. Best Co. for insurance
professionals. To subscribe, visit www.ambest.com/sales/BestWeek.

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