TAIWAN REGULATOR FINES ALLIANZ PRESIDENT LIFE

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has fined locally based assurer Allianz President Life NT$13.2m, for failures in legal compliance and corporate governance, according to an unconfirmed report in today’s Taipei Times . Last June the FSC fined the company NT$9tn for changing the original policy conditions of three of its products and then selling them without reporting the changes for FSC approval. The FSC also found last year that Allianz President Life had “failed to use the required method for computing and setting aside policy reserves to ensure payment of benefits”. The new fine, apparently the highest ever imposed by the FSC on an assurer, was imposed for several cases found to be in breach of compliance, Huang Tien-mu, director-general of the FSC’s insurance bureau, was reported to have told a press conference yesterday. European insurer Allianz is in the process of acquiring from locally based Uni President the 47% stake that it does not currently own in the Taiwanese operation at a cost of NT$1.7bn. The operation would then be renamed Allianz Life Taiwan. In 2006, Allianz President Life ranked number six among life assurers in new business written in Taiwan. It has 1,200 agents and 39 sales distribution agreements. Meanwhile the FSC was reported to have fined Tokio Marine Newa Insurance Ko NT$1.2m for the sale of unapproved policies, Global Life NT$3.6m for unlawful investment, and Taian Insurance Co the same amount for the sale of unapproved policies.