Allianz in May 2018 finalized the sale of part of its Taiwan business’s traditional life insurance portfolio to China Life Insurance. The deal had been announced in January 2018. The portfolio includes around $1.4 billion of reserves in guaranteed interest contracts (GIC) that carry a 4 percent or higher guarantee. Under the Solvency II (S2) regime, GICs are particularly expensive in terms of capital requirement, especially when market rates

Mid-2018 will see German insurer Allianz sell part of its Taiwan business’s traditional life insurance portfolio to China Life Insurance in a move by Allianz to actively manage its Taiwan life portfolio for more capital-efficient solutions. The deal includes a portfolio of around 78,000 policies with a guaranteed interest rate of 4 percent or higher, with combined policy reserves of 1.2 billion euros (on a IFRS basis, $1.42 billion

China in November 2017 announced it would lift the current foreign ownership cap for life insurance companies to 51 percent in 2020 and remove the limit altogether two years later. Other segments of the financial industry will see their limits relaxed even earlier. The limits for fund management companies and for securities ventures will be raised this year to 51 percent, then completely removed in three years, whereas banks