Asia

Shin Kong still keen on China

Shin Kong Financial Holdings, the Taiwanese banking and life insurance group, is continuing its search for a life insurance joint venture partner in China, despite the difficulty in finding a partner willing to invest for the long term, according to the group’s president Frank Cheng. Mr Cheng said there was a surfeit of investment opportunities for Chinese business groups, many of whom expected quick profits. Shin Kong Financial Holdings, which owns Shinkong Life Insurance Company, the third largest life insurer in Taiwan (after Cathay Life and Nan Shan Life), is looking to set up a life insurance joint venture in the coastal regions of China, preferably with a large banking group. The top three companies account for more than half of the life insurance premium income in Taiwan. The group’s banking operation, Shin Kong Bank, has 108 branches in Taiwan.