Taiwan’s domestic non-life insurance market reported a 10.5% growth in gross written premiums (GWP) in 2024, supported by tighter underwriting guidelines, according to a report by AM Best.
The market achieved a profit turnaround in 2023 after a historically poor performance in 2022, partly due to the release of pandemic insurance-related reserves and efforts by non-life insurers to strengthen their underwriting guidelines.
Insurers adopted a more proactive approach in offering risk advisory services and implementing loss prevention measures to reduce claim frequency and severity.
All rated non-life insurers recorded GWP growth, led by CTBC Insurance and Nan Shan General. Rated entities contributed $6.555 billion (NT$192.8 billion), or 70% of market premiums.
Key Highlights
- Motor insurance remained the largest segment, accounting for 49.8% of direct written premiums.
- Voluntary motor insurance comprised 85% of the motor portfolio.
- Growth slowed to 7.7% from 8.2% in 2023 due to weaker new car sales.
- Fire insurance was the second-largest line at 17%.
- Engineering insurance saw the strongest growth at 50.4%, supported by infrastructure and green projects.
Sector profitability improved, with profit before tax increasing by 46.2% to $0.796 billion (NT$23.4 billion). Rated insurers saw a 70.1% jump in pre-tax income to $0.544 billion (NT$16 billion), driven by better underwriting and reserve releases. Fubon Insurance reported the highest earnings at $0.218 billion (NT$6.4 billion).
Capital and surplus rose 16.2% to $5.175 billion (NT$152.2 billion), recovering from pandemic-related losses but still below the 2021 peak. Over half of the insurers have now surpassed their 2021 capital levels.
