Vietnam's insurance has large room for growth: Hillridge exec

Australian insurtech startup Hillridge has marked its presence in Vietnam with a partnership with Bao Minh Insurance in providing a typhoon insurance package. Dale Schilling, CEO and founder of Hillridge, speaks to The Investor about the firm’s plans for the Vietnamese market and beyond.

Could you share about your choice of the Vietnamese market and partner for launching this product?

Vietnam was a natural choice as the first country for Hillridge to expand to from our home country of Australia. There are strong cultural ties between our two countries. The insurance regulatory regime in Vietnam is mature and attractive for foreign investors. And primary production (the agriculture, aquaculture and forestry sectors) is such a large part of Vietnam’s growing economy. Yet, the country is also very exposed to climate risks, and has a very low adoption of insurance to date.

Bao Minh is a great partner for Hillridge. It is one of the largest insurance companies in Vietnam and it has a great reputation. I have found them very easy to do business with, and they have a forward-thinking attitude to new products and new technologies.

What are your expectations of the Vietnamese market in the near future?

Now that we have launched the typhoon insurance product together with Bao Minh, we hope to work with forestry projects, tree crops (like cashews and pomelos) and aquaculture projects that are in typhoon-prone areas, particularly near the coast in central Vietnam.

Are there differences between the insurance package being offered with others in the market, particularly in terms of payment, compensation and time taken to pay compensation?

This is a key feature of parametric insurance: once the typhoon hits, payments are typically made within a few days of the event occurring. This helps people recover more quickly.

Compare that with traditional insurance, where a claim must be made, a damage assessor travels to the site and prepares a report, the insurer decides on the amount they will pay and notifies the payment amount, a negotiation might take place, and then a payment might be made – the process with traditional insurance can take months and involves a lot of uncertainty about whether a payout will happen at all.

Can you recount a relevant experience that Hillridge has had?

We have only just launched the project in Vietnam, so this typhoon season is the first when compensation might happen. One memorable case in Australia was a wheat farmer who took out rainfall insurance for his crop. Just before the harvest, the crop was severely damaged by heavy rain, and the crop could only be sold as cattle feed. This was a huge blow to his finances, but he was compensated within 30 days, and was able to plan for his next crop with confidence.

How have farmers in Vietnam reacted to the package being offered by Hillridge and Bao Minh?

So far the reaction has been positive. Forest growers, in particular, are looking for typhoon cover as they extend how long they are growing the trees so they can sell the wood for timber (which is much higher priced) rather than for chip-board or biomass.

Do you have plans to expand your presence in the region?

This year, we are looking to extend our presence across Vietnam and to expand into other ASEAN countries like Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

What’s your overall assessment of Vietnam's insurance market?

Vietnam’s insurance market is still in its infant stages. There is a lot of room for growth, both in existing product lines, and in new products and concepts like parametric typhoon insurance. I also find it very innovative, with a strong emphasis on digitalization, which is a passion of mine.