Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) said yesterday it sought to expand its market share of first-year premiums (FYP) for the remainder of this year after its net value showed substantial improvement in the first half.
The nation’s largest financial service provider posted NT$5.5 billion (US$167 million) in net profits in the first half, or NT$0.57 earnings per share, compared with NT$2.2 billion in losses from the same period last year, Cathay Financial president Chen Tsu-pei (陳祖培) told an investors conference yesterday afternoon.
The company’s subsidiary, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), contributed NT$4.2 billion, while another subsidiary, Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), put in NT$1 billion, with Cathay Century Insurance Co (國泰世紀產險) breaking even, Chen said.
“The life insurer aims to increase its FYP market share to 30 percent this year while continuing to improve its finances,” Chen said.
The figure reached 30 percent in the second quarter, from 22.4 percent in the first quarter, Chen said.
The life insurer had a net value of NT$90.2 billion in the first half of this year, up 82 percent from the level in December, the company’s financial statement said.
The company trimmed its investment in local equity markets from 6.1 percent in the first quarter to 5.7 percent last quarter after reporting a profit decline of 7.4 percent between April and June, the report said.
Property investment represented 5.5 percent of the company’s portfolio last quarter, from 5.7 percent in the previous quarter, the report said.
Chen said the insurer remained committed to boosting the figure to 10 percent in keeping with a long-term goal. In the meantime, the company’s banking unit maintained a conservative policy in dealing with corporate and mortgage loans that accounted for 49.7 percent and 45 percent of its credit loans respectively in the first half.
The bank raised its passbook savings by NT$111 billion to NT$628.2 billion at the end of the first half, or 50.1 percent of total savings, Chen said.
Fee incomes amounted to NT$2.58 billion, up from NT$3.26 billion in the first half of last year, with the credit card business chipping in NT$1.23 billion, the statement said.
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