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| A customer at a Bao Viet Insurance office. The insurance industry has been urged to improve its services while restructuring the market to maintain sustainable growth. — VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet |
HA NOI (Biz Hub)— The insurance sector will focus on restructuring the market as well as its businesses so as to maintain stability and sustainable development, the Ministry of Finance's Insurance Supervisory Authority (ISA) has said.
The industry expects to see a total premium of VND43.711 trillion (US$2.082 billion) this year, a rise of 6.5 per cent over last year.
Non-life insurance is hoping for a record growth rate of 5 per cent, to reach VND23.9 trillion, while life insurance is aiming at VND19.7 trillion, an increase of 9 per cent year-on-year.
The total investment made by the insurance sector is projected at VND7.3 trillion, up 10 per cent over last year.
To meet these targets, several insurance firms have concentrated on becoming more professional and improving the quality of their services.
Nguyen Truong Giang, general director of the Post and Telecommunications Insurance Joint Stock Company (PTI), said that they would become more competitive by improving the quality of their key products.
Stephen Clark, the AIA Insurance Company's general director, said the company would focus on developing agencies into a standard.
Sharing this idea, Le Van Thanh, general director of Bao Minh Insurance Joint Stock Company, said they planned to restructure their organisations not only at the head office level, but including subsidiaries as well.
In addition, the company wants to develop its distribution network, restructure its range of products and investments structure as well as improve the quality of services.
The sector experienced a lower rate of growth in the first half of this year because of economic difficulties.
Statistics from the ISA show that non-life insurance premiums in the first six months of this year stood at VND11.8 trillion ($562 million), up by only 2.2 per cent over the same period last year.
Life insurance also struggled to maintain a growth rate of 13 per cent, making just VND9.1 trillion ($434 million).
In total, insurance premiums experienced a growth rate of 6.86 per cent over the same period last year, down from the growth rates of 2012 and 2011, which came in at 17.8 per cent and 22 per cent respectively. — VNS