Insurance Revenue Reports up 10 per cent in 2006

The Vietnam insurance market last year continued maintaining a strong growth with revenue of nearly 18 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 10 per cent, according to experts of the Finance Ministry.

 

Of the total, non-life insurance premiums reported VND7 trillion, life insurance premiums VND8.3 trillion and revenue from investment activities VND2.7 trillion.

 

Phung Ngoc Khanh, vice director of the Insurance Department under the Finance Ministry said insurance is proving to be a long-term capital mobilisation channel of the economy. By the end of last year, the insurance sector re-invested into the economy some VND34.4 trillion, rising by over 7.5 trillion against a year earlier.

 

The year 2006 witnessed smooth insurance business equitisation processes. The Bao Viet Insurance Company was the final state run enterprise in the insurance sector to be approved for equitisation and establishing a finance-insurance group. Meanwhile, other firms such as Vinare and Bao Minh floated their shares in the Hanoi Securities Trading Center after equitisation.

 

Vietnam last year also welcome the participation of many new wholly-foreign owned players such as AIG, Liberty Mutual and insurance joint stock companies like Global and Agribank Insurance.

 

Domestic insurers have hastily prepared for expected competition in the WTO playing field when the country pledged to remove barriers for 100 per cent foreign owned companies from January 1, 2008 to supply different kinds of insurance services in construction and installation, petroleum and gas projects, and others.

 

Many new kinds of insurance such as risk insurance in agriculture-forestry-fishery will be developed this year.

 

Currently, insurance companies in Vietnam provide nearly 800 life insurance products and non-life insurance products in all three sectors of human insurance, asset insurance and civil responsibility insurance.

 

(VNA)