Vietnam insurance premiums fall 6.9% to $6.8 bln in 9 months

Total insurance premium collection in Vietnam fell 6.9% year-on-year to VND165.6 trillion ($6.81 billion) in the first nine months of this year, the General Statistics Office reported.

This is the first year-on-year fall since 2017, when the GSO started reporting details on the sector.

The January-September fall this year was driven by a 10.7% decrease in life insurance premiums to VND113.4 trillion ($4.67 billion). The non-life insurance sector recorded an increase of 2.6% to VND52.2 trillion ($2.15 billion).

The GSO attributed the opposite directions taken by the two sub-sectors to non-life insurers’ digitalization efforts to expand the market and better serve customers.

The insurance sector paid VND57.1 trillion ($2.35 billion) for indemnification in the nine-month period, up 30.2% year-on-year, the GSO added.

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.

According to the Insurance Association of Vietnam, Vietnamese life insurer Baoviet Life topped the nation in terms of insurance premiums in the first half of this year, followed by foreign players Manulife and Prudential.

Baoviet Life reported life insurance premiums of VND16.04 trillion ($673.3 million) in H1, 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; accounting for 17.2% of the market share.

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