Baoviet, Manulife top Vietnam in life insurance premiums

Baoviet Life topped the nation in life insurance premiums received in the first six months of the year, followed by Manulife, Prudential, Dai-ichi Life and AIA, according to the Insurance Association of Vietnam.

Baoviet Life reported H1 insurance premiums of VND16.04 trillion ($673.3 million), down 1% year-on-year. It accounted for 20.6% of the market share.

Manulife, the first foreign-invested life insurer in the country, followed with premiums of VND13.36 trillion ($560.8 million), down 13% year-on-year and accounting for 17.2% of the market share.

Prudential Vietnam came in third with life insurance premiums of VND12.84 trillion ($539.2 million), down 8%; accounting for 16.5% of the market share.

Dai-ichi Life ranked fourth with premiums of VND9.74 trillion ($408.8 million), down 6%; and a 12.5% market share.

AIA was fifth with VND7.87 trillion ($330.6 million) in premiums, down 13%; and a 10.1% market share.

In the year to June 30, 2023, total insurance premiums collected was estimated at VND77.83 trillion ($3.3 billion), down 7.9% year-on-year, according to the Insurance Association of Vietnam.

Total new insurance premiums in the first six months of 2023 was estimated at VND15.51 trillion ($651.1 million), down 38.2% year-on-year.

Prudential Vietnam ranked first in this regard with VND2.74 trillion ($115.1 million), followed by Dai-ichi Life with VND2.05 trillion ($85.9 million), Manulife with VND1.98 trillion ($82.9 million), Bao Viet Life with VND1.91 trillion, and Sun Life with VND1.18 trillion ($49.7 million).

The market has recently witnessed a crisis of confidence with many residents expressing frustration with the quality of services rendered by life insurance enterprises, including bancassurance services, a popular channel through which life insurers and banks cooperate to sell insurance policies.

In early July, the Ministry of Finance said that Prudential, MB Ageas, Sun Life, and BIDV Metlife have been found committing bancassurance violations and will have to pay administrative fines.

Many irregularities were found in the sales of insurance policies via banks, and they involved banking staff. Major mistakes included the provision of misleading information, and not strictly following the ministry’s insurance premium guidelines.

The finance ministry has imposed administrative fines as a warning to businesses and to ensure a safe market, and asked the four insurers to enhance their management of bancassurance activities.

Insurance businesses have been instructed to develop monitoring processes related to law compliance, proactively detect and handle violations, and minimize impacts on customers. They have also been asked to improve training and monitoring, control relevant fees in line with the law, and boost risk management.