Taiwan

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday placed Global Life Insurance Co (國寶人壽) and Singfor Life Insurance Co (幸福人壽) under government receivership, as the two insurers had failed to contain financial losses or management malpractices, the Taipei Times reported. “We have no choice but to take the drastic step at 5:30pm to maintain market order and stability,” FSC Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) told a news conference.

Global shipping company TMT Group sought bankruptcy protection after failing to restructure its $1.46 billion debt load out of court, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company, which has a fleet of 17 vessels that transport everything from oil to vehicles around the world, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Thursday in Houston, the latest victim of an industry downturn that has left shipping businesses struggling with their balance sheets. In the years leading up to the recession, TMT, like many of its peers, was building up its fleet, placing orders for new ships.

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said it would extend the government’s receivership of cash-strapped Kuo Hua Life Insurance Co for another year, allowing the receiver more time to secure a buyer, the Taipei Times reported. The move marked the fourth time the receivership has been extended, as the current one is due to expire tomorrow and the receiver — the semi-official Insurance Stabilization Fund — is in the process of arranging an auction in late October. The financial regulator has taken control of the insolvent company since Aug. 4, 2009.

A major creditor of Proview Electronics, which is challenging Apple Inc.'s use of the iPad trademark, has moved to have the ailing computer monitor maker liquidated, reports said Monday, the Associated Press reported. Taiwan-based Fubon Insurance is seeking $8.68 million in debts and has filed an application to have Proview declared bankrupt, the reports by the Xinhua News Agency and other mainland media said.

Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission said Friday it extended the receivership of Kuo Hua Life Insurance Co. by another nine months to allow investors to bid for the firm, Taiwan's first life insurance company to be taken into receivership by the government for more than 40 years, Nasdaq.com reported on a Dow Jones story. The receivership period was to end May 3. The Financial Supervisory Commission took over Kuo Hua Life Aug. 4, 2009, because it had more debt than assets, and handed it over to the Taiwan Insurance Guarantee Fund, which is funded by a tax from industry premiums.

Carlyle Group, Primus Financial Holdings Ltd. and MBK Partners Ltd. may seek to buy American International Group Inc.’s Taiwanese life insurance unit, three people familiar with the matter said. KKR & Co., Affinity Equity Partners Ltd., Cathay Financial Holding Co. and Chinatrust Financial Holding Co. have also asked New York-based AIG for information about the sale and may take part in a first round of bids scheduled for July 3, the people said. The unit may fetch about $2 billion, they said, declining to be identified because the discussions are private.

Global insurance-industry regulators are set to begin talks this week on creating the first common rules on solvency requirements for international insurers, in an effort to prevent crises like that which nearly buried American International Group Inc. last year, The Wall Street Journal reported. At a three-day meeting in Taiwan scheduled to start Wednesday, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors is expected to work out a detailed schedule to come up with requirements for major insurers' solvency margin ratios, people familiar with the matter said.

The global downturn could lead to unrest, more poverty and environmental challenges in Asia, regional leaders were warned on Monday, after they agreed on a $120 billion emergency fund to counter the crisis, Reuters reported. Asia has been hard hit by the collapse in global demand largely because of the region's heavy reliance on exports. Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan are in recession and growth elsewhere is the weakest in years. "Poverty is worsening in many countries. Businesses are struggling.

The crash of Seoul’s Kumkang Valve Mfg. Ltd. came not because orders dried up but after the fallout from currency contracts that Chief Executive Officer Choi Kyung Shik signed with banks and now says he didn’t understand, Bloomberg reported. In September, Kumkang filed for bankruptcy because of changing exchange rates and terms of the deals. In November, one bank closed the last of Choi’s contracts, costing him $15 million, half of his annual revenue last year. Choi’s firm joined more than 50,000 businesses around the globe that are in a similar predicament.

According to a recent study conducted by Asian Banker Research, Malaysia is listed fourth in the Asia Pacific region's most creditor-friendly bankruptcy regimes where creditors can expect to recover more than 80 cents in the dollar of assets they are owed, the Malaysian national news agency reported. The findings of the study released today said Singapore and Japan were Asia Pacific region's most creditor-friendly bankruptcy regimes where creditors could expect to recover more than 90 cents in the dollar. Taiwan came third with a similar rate of recovery with Malaysia.