Taiwan’s Fubon Life Cleared to Set Up Vietnam Office

Fubon Life Assurance Co. Ltd. [77804] has been approved by the Financial Supervisory Commission, Taiwan's regulator, to set up a new branch in Vietnam.

Fubon Life will be the second Taiwanese life insurance company to set up operations in Vietnam, said the regulator in a statement. Cathay Life Insurance Co. Ltd. [90300] was the first Taiwanese insurance company to open a life insurance branch in Vietnam.

Fubon Insurance Co. Ltd. [86888], a nonlife affiliate of Fubon Life, already has a presence in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The life insurer's Vietnam operation will be based in Hanoi and will set up a branch in Ho Chi Minh City, according to the FSC.

Fubon Life declined to comment on its products, distribution and business plan for the Vietnam office, which is still subject to regulatory approval in Vietnam.

The life insurer is eyeing Vietnam's growing business potential, supported by the country's fast economic development, according to the FSS.

Vietnam will be Fubon Life's first independent overseas branch. In China, Fubon Life and Fubon Insurance, both insurance subsidiaries of Taiwanese financial conglomerate Fubon Financial Holding, formed a 50-50 nonlife joint venture in the southeastern coastal city of Xiamen (BestWire, Jan. 5, 2010).

(By Iris Lai, Hong Kong bureau manager: [email protected])