Taiwan insurers' 2020 pre-tax profit jumps 30.7% to $8.35b

The buoyant stock market drove the growth.

Taiwan’s insurance industry recorded a 30.7% growth in pre-tax profit of $8.35b (TW$233.1b) in 2020, data from the Insurance Bureau showed.

The life segment accounted for $7.39b (TW$206.1b) whilst the property and casualty lines posted pre-tax profits of $609m (TW$17b).

The sector gained from the buoyant stock market, the bureau’s chief secretary Lin Yaodong said. Shareholders' equity gained 29% to $93.2b (TW$2.67t).

In the same year, the bureau revealed that the exchange gains/losses, hedging gains/losses and the net effect of volatility on the foreign exchange valuation reserves of life insurers was a net loss of $10.6b (TW$296.8b).

Life insurers’ overseas investments yielded net gains of $22.45b (TW$626.4b).