Allianz SE (AZ) plans to nearly double its agency force in Taiwan this year to sell more traditional policies as clients have become conservative, Chris James, president and chief executive of the German insurer's operation in Taiwan, said Tuesday.

Customers are "getting back to the basics" when it comes to insurance needs, James told reporters.

Allianz's plan to increase its sales force to 3,000, from 1,600 at the end of last year, comes as many of its European rivals are either selling or scaling back their operations on the island, one of the most saturated in the world, to reduce their capital burden.

Andreas Rosenthal, an executive vice president with Allianz Taiwan, said he expects the company will attract some customers previously with rivals ING Groep N.V. and Prudential PLC. But he said it is still too early to give an estimate of how many customers will move to Allianz.

Prudential is selling its Taiwan agency distribution operations and agency force to Taiwan's China Life Insurance Co., while ING sold its Taiwan life-insurance unit to Fubon Financial Holding Co. in February.

In the quarter ended March 31, Allianz sold NT$7.8 billion worth of insurance policies on the island, more than three times the NT$2.4 billion it sold in the preceding quarter.

Bancassurance accounted for 77% of Allianz Taiwan's first-year premiums in 2008, while the agency business accounted for 16%. The remainder was split between the company's telemarketing and insurance brokerage channels, according to Rosenthal.

Allianz sells policies through 33 banks in Taiwan.

-By Perris Lee Choon Siong, Dow Jones Newswires; +8862-2502-2557; perris.lee@dowjones.com