Insurance sector looks at rosy prospects in 2018

The sector saw a 21 per cent jump on-year in premium value in 2017

The figure was released at a recent meeting hosted by the Ministry of Finance’s Insurance Supervisory Authority (ISA) to review the sector’s performance in 2017 and set business targets for 2018.

According to ISA, in 2018 the sector aims to count VND129.246 trillion in premium value, up 22.3 per cent on-year, as well as report VND370.818 trillion in total asset value and reinvest VND305.497 trillion in the economy.

This year, the sector’s total premium value was estimated at more than VND105.6 trillion ($4.8 billion), a 21 per cent jump on-year, while its total asset value was an estimated VND302.9 trillion ($13.7 billion), up 23 per cent. Additionally, more than VND247.8 trillion ($11.2 billion) was reinvested in the economy, up 26.7 per cent on-year.

According to Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha, as the economy is forecast to remain stable in the upcoming year, the insurance sector needs to scale up efforts to maintain the higher than 20 per cent growth next year.

Ha asked ISA to quickly deploy the project promoting IT applications in insurance management, and push up the process of building a common database for the sector to be able to design suitable fee levels for insurance products.

According to experts, the target of maintaining more than 20 per cent growth in 2018 is feasible as operational scale and the distribution channels of insurers have been constantly expanding, particularly amid an anticipated bancassurance boom next year.

“Notwithstanding, the sector’s 2018 growth also faces some restrictions, such as the low rate of people using insurance products, lack of a common database, and unfair competition practices from rivals,” an insurance expert commented.

Insurers’ 2017 business results have been generally rosy, promising an upbeat performance in 2018.

For instance, according to Vietnam National Aviation Insurance Corporation (VNI), this year, VNI achieved more than 36 per cent growth in premium value, posting a 63 per cent jump in non-aviation insurance services and a 173 per cent jump in bancassurance services.

Its member units, such as VNI Thang Long and VNI Long An, have reached their full-year business targets by mid-November.

Meanwhile, Post and Telecommunications Corporation (PTI) has just announced overachieving its 2017 profit target by 24 per cent, producing a growth 39 per cent higher than last year.

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