Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) said yesterday it would continue to offer high-margin products such as traditional life policies to increase profits, with an objective of NT$70 billion (US$2.2 billion) in premiums from new insurance contracts this year.
“This year, we will focus on sales of traditional life and medical policies and roll out investment-linked policies toward the end of March,” Shin Kong Life president Pan Po-cheng (潘柏錚) told an investor conference.
Pan said products designed by the company in cooperation with Japan’s Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance company would also be available starting in May, adding that the line of products would be adjusted in the second half of this year.
Shin Kong Life reported a net income of NT$110 million last year, with a return rate of 4.47 percent and a return on equity of 0.26 percent, data by parent company Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) released to investors yesterday showed.
Shin Kong Financial turned profitable in the fourth quarter of last year with a net profit of NT$1.41 billion and posted after-tax earnings of NT$1.13 billion, or NT$0.17 per share, for the full year.
The financial group’s banking unit, Shin Kong Commercial Bank (新光銀行), posted steady growth last year as its net profit after tax climbed 146.6 percent year-on-year to NT$560 million, Shin Kong Financial senior assistant manager Sunny Hsu (徐順鋆) said.
In the fourth quarter of last year, the bank’s net interest margin rose to 1.54 percent, while its non-performing loan ratio dropped to 1.42 percent with a loan-loss coverage ratio of 75.37 percent.
Its asset quality continued to improve, Hsu said.
This year, Shin Kong Bank aims to expand its loan businesses with enterprises while maintaining steady growth in loan businesses with individuals.
The bank is planning to set up a branch in Hong Kong in its effort to expand into the Asian-Pacific region and to develop businesses with China-based Taiwanese businesspeople, Hsu said.
Separately, Shin Kong Financial is considering a merger with Masterlink Securities Corp (元富證券) at an appropriate time this year, Shin Kong Financial president Victor Hsu (許澎) told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.
Shin Kong Financial holds a 25 percent stake in the securities company, with which it maintains a close strategic alliance, Hsu said.
Shares of Shin Kong Financial rose 2.15 percent to NT$11.9 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange ahead of yesterday’s investors’ conference. The stock has declined 12.41 percent since the beginning of the year.
Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes do not work. Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into a sport utility vehicle and a sedan, and crashing into a large concrete barrier. Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla Inc sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the vehicles brakes — and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than US$23,000 in
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
‘NO DISRUPTION’: A US trade association said that it was ready to work with the US administration to streamline the program’s requirements and achieve shared goals The White House is seeking to renegotiate US CHIPS and Science Act awards and has signaled delays to some upcoming semiconductor disbursements, two sources familiar with the matter told reporters. The people, along with a third source, said that the new US administration is reviewing the projects awarded under the 2022 law, meant to boost US domestic semiconductor output with US$39 billion in subsidies. Washington plans to renegotiate some of the deals after assessing and changing current requirements, the sources said. The extent of the possible changes and how they would affect agreements already finalized was not immediately clear. It was not known