The Taiwan life insurance arm of Dutch financial services firm ING Group is mulling its first investments in international stocks as it aims at higher returns while riding out turbulence in Taiwan's stock market.
ING, behind AIG as the biggest foreign life insurer in Asia, is also eyeing opportunities in hedge funds, private equity, and commodities over the next few years as it seeks to boost returns while managing risk to meet its liabilities.
At the same time, it will keep half of its investments in the conservative government bond market, Andy Yang, chief investment officer of the investment unit of Taiwan's ING Life Insurance Co, told Reuters in an interview on July 02.
"One thing you could say is that Taiwan's market is very heavily concentrated in electronics," Yang said. "The US has Microsofts and Apples, it's got brands, it's closer to the clients, but this technology here is one step removed. It is much more volatile."
"Taiwan, I think, for a while to come will be a much more volatile market than other places," he added. Fears also persist that the number of mainland Chinese tourists to the island under a landmark agreement signed last month could be lower than expected after direct weekend charter flights begin on July 4.
ING's Taiwan insurance arm currently allocates around 7 percent of its portfolio to Taiwanese stocks, with 50 percent in government bonds, and 1.4 percent in real estate. A move to stocks outside Taiwan would mark the first time the firm - celebrating its 20th Taiwan anniversary this year - had included such assets in its portfolio.
Comments
Comments are closed.