2013-02-11 23:10:06 -

Niche markets in retirement and wealth management will be the next domestic growth engines for Taiwan’s life insurers, who will also need to learn from their European counterparts how to balance risk and capital management, according to an article in the latest BestWeek Asia-Pacific.

Taiwan’s life insurance market has been sluggish since 2008 as the global financial crisis triggering capital adequacy and solvency concerns among foreign players, which eventually pulled out. This also created an aftermath “negative spread” problem among western insurers who gave up their local businesses, such as U.K.’s Prudential plc, Netherlands-based Aegon and ING Group, and U.S.-based MassMutual, said Paul Melody, head of life insurance consulting at Towers Watson in Greater China, in an interview.

But like China, there

are opportunities in the savings and retirement sectors along with an expanding aging population, Melody said.

BestWeek Asia-Pacific also features the final in a series on takaful regulation in the Gulf Cooperation Council and how policyholder protection is a key aspect in considering takaful companies.

The Feb. 12 edition is available at www.bestweek.com/asia : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. and www.bestweek.com : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .

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A.M. Best Co.Iris Lai, +852-282-3400 iris.lai@ambest.com : mailto:iris.lai@ambest.com