BIDV MetLife aims to become a market leader

Other foreign insurers have already set up and expanded vigorously in the Vietnamese market. So why has BIDV MetLife chosen this time to join the market, and what are key drivers behind the move?

The Vietnamese insurance market has reportedly grown 15 per cent in the last three years. This is growth that not a lot of other markets can boast. Currently, bancassurance in other Asian countries makes up more than 50 per cent of the insurance market share, while it is only 10 per cent in Vietnam. Thus, it is a huge opportunity for us to grow in the future and now is the perfect time to join the market. It is also the right time to bring together the strengths of a large and successful bank like BIDV with the global insurance expertise of MetLife. Together we can build a bancassurance service to meet the needs of Vietnamese consumers. More importantly, both BIDV and MetLife share the objective of bringing something new to the market and re-energising the value proposition of insurance for our customers in Vietnam.

BIC previously cooperated with an Australian insurance firm but the joint venture ended in failure. Will this shake your long-term ties with BIC?

We have a great common vision with our partner, which is the trust that they hav ae great understanding of the local market and a lot of expertise and knowledge to bring. This is a great foundation for a strong relationship that we hope will continue into the future.

As a newcomer, how will BIDV MetLife’s products be differentiated from its competitors’?

Life insurance as a financial instrument and form of protection is still a relatively unfamiliar concept to many Asians, especially in Vietnam. For BIDV MetLife, we must strive to understand the market we operate in and the customers we’re looking to serve. At BIDV MetLife, we welcome competition. We will continue to focus on developing innovative products, best-in-class capabilities, and cutting-edge technology in Vietnam in order to offer the best service and products to our customers. Our strategy firstly focuses on bancassurance, and secondly on significant investment in IT and technology for efficient operations and ease of use for our customers. We have a wide distribution network made available through BIDV’s 700 branches. Customer centricity is also our strategy, where we provide simple, clear products and services tailored to our customers’ basic wants and needs.

What is your business target for the next few years, and what challenges do you face towards achieving this goal?

We will be the leading bancassurance provider in Vietnam and one of the top 5 life insurance companies in the market. Our time frame is five years and that’s an aggressive target for us to achieve in such a tight time frame. We are very pleased and lucky that we have a great team and we are impressed with the quality of the people who’ve joined us so far. Every business has its own challenges, but with the right people on board we can figure out a way to deal with these challenges. The challenge we face right now is that most people don’t understand what life insurance is. Raising the education and awareness of insurance is therefore an important focus for us. We have invested significantly in training for BIDV bank employees and our agents to give them a deep understanding of our insurance products and processes, so that they can ask customers the right questions, truly understand their needs, and be able to offer them the right products that can help them to achieve their financial goals.