The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam Insurance Joint Stock
Corporation (BIC) has announced it will pour nearly 5 million USD into
its subsidiary companies in Laos and Cambodia .
The leading non-life insurer remains Bao Viet insurance corporation with
premiums of 5.4 trillion VND (260 million USD), according for 23.8
percent of the market share.
Japanese insurer Sumitomo Life purchased HSBC Insurance’s 18 percent stake in BaoViet Holdings for about 7 trillion VND (340 million USD on Dec. 20, to become the new strategic investor of the largest insurance company in Vietnam.
The insurance market will continue to expand this year, with total
premiums expected to reach 46 trillion VND (2.2 billion USD), up 24
percent from last year, says a recent report from A.M. Best, a credit
rating agency covering the insurance industry.
The Insurance Australia Group (IAG) has entered into a provisional
agreement to acquire a strategic stake of 30 percent in the AAA
Assurance Corporation.
In the face of economic crisis, the life insurance sector still reaped
benefits from foreign insurer contributions last year and is expected to
continue its development in 2012.
As Vietnam continues to open up its insurance market further, allowing
foreign non-life insurance companies to set up branches in the country,
domestic firms will have to improve their act to cope with stronger
competition, industry insiders say.
Phung Gia Loc,
General Secretary of the Association of Vietnamese Insurers (AVI), said
domestic non-life insurance companies will have to face more rivals with
greater advantages this year.
Vietnam’s insurance market is expected to continue its 2011 growth rate,
with an estimated 19-21 percent year-on-year increase in 2012,
according to an industry official.
Vietnamese Minister of Finance Vuong Dinh Hue has pledged to create all
favourable conditions for Japanese businesses to operate effectively in
Vietnam .
Despite economic difficulties, the insurance market still surged 20.34
percent in the first half of the year against the same period in 2010,
said the Ministry of Finance's Insurance Supervisory Authority.
"Research and Markets" has said that Vietnam insurance market is one of
the fastest growing insurance markets in the world and Vietnam insurance
sector offers ample opportunities for international insurers.
Insurance companies saw high profits last year, with insurance premiums
totalling 30.8 trillion VND (1.5 billion USD) in 2010 – far surpassing
2009's total of 25.5 trillion VND (1.2 billion USD), said the president
of the Association of Vietnamese Insurers, Trinh Quang Tuyen.
Total insurance premiums are estimated to have reached 30.69 trillion
VND (1.57 billion USD) this year, a rise of 20.3 percent on last year,
according to the Ministry of Finance's Insurance Management and
Supervision Department.
While the country is waiting for Government approval of a pilot
agricultural insurance project, a model of livestock insurance fund in
Son La province’s Moc Chau Dairy Cow Breeding JSC (MCDCB) has been
successful, helping minimise risks for farmers.
The domestic life insurance market has been sparked into life by a story
that received wide media coverage about a businesswoman whoa paid an
annual premium of 1.2 billion VND (61,000 USD).
Enhancing safety during offshore oil and gas exploration and production
was the main topic of a seminar, hosted by the Vietnam National Oil and
Gas Group (PetroVietnam) in Ho Chi Minh City on Sept. 30.
The Japanese economic daily, Nikkei on August 11 carried an analysis
saying that Vietnam's nonlife insurance market is attracting more and
more corporate and individual customers, and the intensifying
competition may spur a realignment among insurers.
The International Insurance News forecast for further growth in the
Vietnamese insurance market with a number of established insurance
companies entering the market.
