Insurance market poised for robust growth next year

Phung Ngoc Khanh, Director of the Ministry of Finance’s Department of the Insurance Supervisory Authority, said in an interview with Thoi bao Kinh Te Viet Nam (Vietnam Economic Time) that the Vietnamese economy was forecast to continue to post high economic growth, at around 6.5%, in 2017.

In addition, the Government planned to focus resources on boosting the services market, including the insurance market.

According to Khanh, there is much room for growth in the insurance market, such as in insurance products for agricultural production and diseases, while demand for insurance products continues rising amid the country’s rapid international integration, coupled with improved awareness about the role of insurance.

The insurance market is on track towards double-digit growth this year, expected at more than 20%, and forecasts are optimistic for 2017.

According to Phan Kim Bang, president of the Vietnam Insurance Association, insurance companies expect that the Government’s policies to create a framework for the development of new products, such as insurance for public assets and diseases, will be issued soon.

“The insurance market is poised for strong growth. Next year, the growth rates are expected at more than 25% for life insurance and 14% for non-life insurance."

The department’s statistics showed that the total revenue of the insurance market was estimated at VND101,767 trillion (US$4.5 billion) in 2016, of which, insurance premiums totalled more than VND86 trillion, representing a rise of 22.74% over the same period last year.

Premiums for non-life insurance totalled VND36.37 trillion in 2016, increasing by 14.69% over the previous year, while life insurance increasing by 34.26% to reach VND69.7 trillion.

Total assets of insurers also increased by 18.2%, totalling VND239.4 trillion.

However, experts said that the shortage of quality human resources, such as actuarial services, remained a challenge to the development of the insurance market.