Prudential protects health and wealth of Vietnamese

Nic Nicandrou - chief executive of Prudential Corporation Asia

Prudential is now an Asian-led portfolio of businesses, focused on structural growth markets. What opportunities are there in Vietnam for Prudential?

Several social trends are shaping consumer demand for protection, health, and wealth offerings in Asia, including Vietnam, and bringing opportunities to insurers like Prudential.

The first is the health protection gap. While Vietnam has a population of about 96 million people, only about eight million life insurance policies have been issued so far. Vietnam has one of the world’s lowest life insurance penetration rates at around 10 per cent, and the government has plans to increase insurance penetration to 15 per cent by 2025. So the growth potential of insurers is significant.

The second factor is the rising middle class, which is under-insured and under-saved. Growth in personal income and wealth across Asia continues to be supported by strong economic expansion.

In Vietnam, the country’s middle class has been expanding rapidly, adding 1.5 million people each year. Entering the middle class is typically the trigger for individuals to consider protecting both their wealth and health.

At the same time, the number of Asians aged over 65 will almost triple, to around 700 million people by 2050. Like many other markets on the continent, Vietnam faces the challenge of a growing ageing population. In fact, Vietnam is becoming one of the fastest ageing-countries in the world.

Fuelled by these structural trends as well as Vietnam’s solid economic growth, demand for protection and investments products that Prudential offers is on the rise.

Prudential strives to help narrow the country’s health protection gap in 2020, which currently amounts to $36 billion.

How are the structural trends in Asia impacting Prudential’s strategies in Asia, and in Vietnam in particular?

Rising affluence and longer life expectancy in Asia are driving an unprecedented demand for insurance. Consumers are looking for product solutions which will help them grow their wealth and protect their health amid increasing healthcare costs and growing incidences of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes.

As a leading life insurer and asset manager in Asia, Prudential is at the forefront to address the real-life needs of its customers.

We are embracing a digital-led, customer-centric strategy in Vietnam to broaden access to life insurance and provide a seamless end-to-end experience to customers. For example, more than 90 per cent of our life insurance applications are via e-submissions and half of our customers’ claims are registered through our digital platform.

One of our ambitions is to deliver affordable and accessible healthcare for families in Asia. In Vietnam, we strive to help narrow the country’s health protection gap, which currently amounts to $36 billion.

Through leveraging technology and innovative digital solutions, we can help improve consumer awareness of how to take personal control of health and wellbeing. As demand for healthcare continues to rise in Vietnam, Prudential aims to evolve from being just a provider of cover to partnering with customers on their health and wellness.

And this is why we are evolving our health-related offering. In addition to providing insurance protection, we are expanding our engagement with consumers through offering them a suite of value-added health-related services that will help them prevent and postpone the onset of disease.

Prudential Vietnam marked its 20th anniversary in November with a new commitment “We DO for a Wealthier and Healthier Vietnam”.

After two decades of operations in Vietnam, what action will Prudential carry out in order to enhance the company’s position in the market?

Over the past 20 years, Prudential has been a leader in helping Vietnamese families achieve financial security and achieve their wealth aspirations.

As a leading life insurer and asset manager in Asia spanning 15 markets, Prudential will continue to leverage its broad capabilities and financial strength to help customers live longer and healthier lives alongside its contributions to the nation’s long-term growth.

Prudential Vietnam is expanding its suite of offerings with holistic solutions to support its customers in protecting their families’ financial health. New products have been developed based on research on customers’ healthcare needs and concerns. Among them is PRU-SafePlus, launched in October, which combines savings and protection benefits, as well as protects customers against 99 different critical illness conditions.

With Prudential Vietnam’s strong 20-year execution track record, we believe we are best placed to support the government’s efforts to achieve its healthcare goals, build financial resilience in the community, and promote economic development.

With the growing healthcare needs in Vietnam, how can Prudential address the challenges ahead and assist Vietnamese people to progress in life?

There are more than 62 million internet users in Vietnam, which account for two-thirds of the population. We believe that the convergence of mobile technology and medicine can be a game-changer in the way people manage their health and wellbeing.

To this end, we will soon be introducing a health app, Pulse by Prudential, which will provide all Vietnamese people access to a comprehensive set of advanced AI-powered tools and value-added services around the clock. Pulse was launched in last August in Malaysia and will soon be offered in 10 other markets across Asia, including Vietnam in the next year.

Pulse is an all-in-one app, free to download and available to everyone, providing instant, reliable, and real-time healthcare information, enabling users to take control of their health and wellbeing.

Through the Pulse platform, Prudential is taking a holistic approach to healthcare.

By working with different partners and using machine learning, we are revolutionising our health offering.

Pulse reinforces our longstanding commitment to helping Vietnamese people progress in their life. This also supports the Vietnamese government’s efforts to empower communities and individuals to manage their health better and promote preventive and proactive care.