Lam Hai Tuan, Chairman and Country President of Chubb Life Vietnam.

ACE Limited acquired Chubb Corporation for US$29.5 billion. Can you tell us more about this acquisition?

In October 2015, special shareholders' meetings of ACE Limited and Chubb Corporation approved ACE's acquisition of Chubb in a $29.5 billion deal. In January 2016, the acquisition was completed, creating the world's largest publicly-traded property and casualty insurance company with operations in 54 countries and a broad range of personal and commercial insurance products.

Effective immediately, ACE is adopting the Chubb name globally. ACE and Chubb are now one. In Viet Nam, we obtained approval from the Ministry of Finance to change our name to Chubb Life Vietnam in March 2016.

How will your company change after the deal and how will these changes manifest in Viet Nam? Will there be any changes to the business in Viet Nam following the acquisition?

The combination of the two corporations does not change our strategy of providing best quality products and services. In fact, it enhances our capabilities to deliver both aspects by combining the best of each company.

In Viet Nam, it is business as usual for all our clients. Our clients' policies remain in place and our service to the clients will not be interrupted in any way. Our claims experts will continue to handle every claim without interruption.

All existing rights and obligations of clients and partners are fully assumed by Chubb Life Vietnam in accordance with Viet Nam's laws and regulations.

Starting April 4, ACE Life in Viet Nam changed its name to Chubb Life Vietnam following more than 10 years in the market. Can you tell us what the Vietnamese market and clients can expect from this new brand?

Our name is new, but our commitment remains the same - to offer our customers, business partners, employees and other stakeholders our best quality and service.

The company is [now] even better positioned to help our agents and partners serve clients by leveraging the strengths of both companies to offer a broader portfolio of products.

Given that ACE Life has been one of the leading players in the Viet Nam life insurance market, and building on the existing strengths of the combined company, Chubb Life will offer even better products and service quality to our clients in the country.

This year marks an important milestone for the company in Viet Nam. We will continue to take solid and strong steps forward in the years to come, and this will be our top priority. With our over a decade of growth and development, we will take Chubb Life Vietnam to new heights over time to become a top insurance firm in Viet Nam.

What are the targets for the company over the next five years?

We will continue on the path we have been on for the last 10 years. The company is a trusted life insurance firm in Viet Nam, and we will strive to make it one of the market leaders.

We will make sure that the company is at the forefront of the life insurance market in terms of products, technology and a professional sales representative team.

We are now in our third five-year plan - "Journey from Good to Great" - in which our distribution network will expand both geography and channels, so that the company will have even better coverage to offer the best services to our clients. The company is on a mission to expand to 50 offices and a 25,000-strong sales team in all provinces in Viet Nam by 2020. More importantly, it will make every effort to guarantee revenue and earnings growth in tandem with adding value to customers.

How do you see the market in 2016? What opportunities do you think the TPP and AEC will offer the local life insurance industry?

This year will be a pivotal one for the next mid-term stage of Viet Nam's insurance market development strategy for 2016-2020. With strong support from regulatory agencies and the opportunities created for insurance firms to grow and diversify the product portfolio and outlets, I believe the local life insurance market will continue to achieve impressive growth both this year and in the years ahead.

When the country becomes a member of the TPP and AEC, its insurance market will see more competition from international insurance firms. However, healthy competition will bring more diverse products to the market, more benefits to customers and also better service for clients.

As more expatriates come to Viet Nam to work, there will be an opportunity for the development of health care and pension insurance offerings for these workers.

As Viet Nam continues to embed further in the region and the world, the Vietnamese perspective of insurance will definitely change in a good way, thus promoting the growth of the life insurance market. — VNS