Non-life insurance companies in the country are faced with a shortage of actuaries who meet national standards, according to the deputy general secretary of Vietnam Insurance Association.

Beginning in January next year, non-life insurance companies are required to use actuaries who meet national standards, including being a fellow of international actuary societies, having at least five years of work experience and at least two certificates in the field issued by international actuary societies.

Only one actuary in the country meets these standards, according to Ngo Trung Dung, Deputy General Secretary of Vietnam Insurance Association.

Speaking at a recent workshop at the International University-HCM City, Dung said the country has 30 non-life insurance companies, 17 life insurance companies and two re-insurance companies.

No university in the country offers training in actuary, he said, adding that the International University-HCM City should be a pioneer in training.

It should cooperate with other international universities to offer training, he said, adding that incomes of actuaries are high.

The country's insurance market has seen rapid development. Within the last five years, the market's growth rate reached 16 percent, including 11.9 percent for non-life insurance.

Last year, the total revenue from insurance was around 2.6 billion USD. The total assets of insurance companies were 7.7 billion USD.

The workshop, held by the association in cooperation with the International University-HCM City and Vietnam Insurance Association, provided information about a relatively new statistical method called chain ladder. This method is used to estimate outstanding claims, whereby the weighted average of past claim development is projected into the future.-VNA