France’s Prevoir Vietnam Life Insurance Company, the fully foreign invested firm with 100-years experience, will start its operation in Vietnam on December 14.
Prevoir Vietnam has become one of eight life insurers in Vietnam besides the national insurer Bao Viet Life, Vietnamese-Australian joint venture Bao Minh-CMG, Britain's Prudential, Canada's Manulife, and two other US firms - AIA and New York Life and the newly launched ACE Life.
The French insurer has a registered capital of $10 million, with Vie Groupe Prevoir holding 70 per cent stake, Proparco with 20 per cent, and Scor Vie 10 per cent.
The firm will provide various life insurance services, investing in bonds and shares, in real estate, in other local companies, and lending under the Law on Credit Institutions.
Prevoir Vietnam has signed a contract with Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT) to distribute its life insurance services via VNPT's network of post offices for the next 10 years.
Bertrand Voyer, General Director of Prevoir, said the firm selected the post system as its distribution network because it operates well in France and Prevoir wants to use this same form in Vietnam.
Statistics of the French Insurer Association show that life insurance premiums collected via French post offices accounted for 16.7 per cent in 2001 and 20.3 per cent in 2002, compared to 8 per cent through agents and 17 per cent via staff of insurance firms.
Prevoir Vietnam acting CEO Tran Ba Phuoc said: “VNPT has a strong service distribution network with more than 3,000 post offices in 64 provinces. It also has a successful track record in providing a postal savings service."
The cooperation will enable greater access to life insurance products in order to help Vietnamese people build up savings plans and protect their family from financial risk, he said.
The life insurance products, which will be available from early next year, are designed to be simple and flexible in selecting payment terms and sums insured.
The VNPT’s deputy general director Hoang Tho Thai said that the entry into the insurance industry reflected the company's business diversification as part of its transformation into an economic group.
There are some 20 local and foreign insurance companies in Vietnam, generating a turnover of more than VND7 trillion ($443 million), including some VND4.8 trillion ($304 million) from life insurance. The turnover accounts for 2 per cent of the country's gross domestic products.
In the first half of this year, the national insurance industry earned a turnover of VND8 trillion ($506 million), an increase of 18 per cent compared with the same period last year. It is expected to hit VND17 trillion ($1.06 billion) by the end of this year, accounting for 2.5 per cent of GDP.
VNS
Vietnamese
