Viet Nam’s insurance sector is predicted to grow 20 per cent this year thanks to a change in Government policies, experts said.

According to Phung Ngoc Khanh, head of the Insurance Supervisory Authority Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the ministry this year will carry out some solutions to improve the market.

For instance, he told Thoi Bao Tai Chinh Viet Nam (Viet Nam Financial Times) that the Goverment is studying an amendment to the Insurance Business Law No24/2000/QH10 and law No61/2010/QH12.

Some policies on agriculture, aquaculture and pension insurance will be applied and this segments will issue new kinds of insurance products, he said.

Khanh also affirmed that the ministry will supervise the companies’operations in order to give them timely support. He added that the ministry will make all efforts to implement international commitments and co-operation.

This year, Khanh expected the sector will attract more prestigious investors and the market will reach growth of over 20 per cent.

Talking about the market this year, the chairman of the Insurance Association of Viet Nam, Pham Kim Bang, predicted that the growth for life insurance will be 25 per cent and 14 per cent for the non-life insurance sector.

He told baodautu.vn that the awareness of people and companies about the role of insurance has changed, and they using more insurance products.

Furthermore, the country’s growth, which is predicted to be 6.7 per cent in 2017, will be an advantage for the market to develop.

In addition, new Government policies, such as public property and natural disaster insurance, will be a positive signal boosting the market, he said.

By the end of 2016, there were 62 insurance companies operating in the country. Of this total, 29 were non-life insurance companies, 18 were life insurance companies, two were re-insurance companies, 13 were insurance intermediary companies and one was a branch of a foreign insurance company.

Last year, the sector enjoyed good results.

The Insurance Supervisory Authority Department reported that the total revenue of the sector last year stood at nearly VND102 trillion (US$4.45 billion). Of the total, VND86 trillion was from the insurance business, up 23 per cent over the previous year and VND15 trillion was from investment.

Total claims were VND25.9 trillion. About VND12.6 trillion was from non-life insurance and VND13.3 trillion was from life insurance.

Despite good results, some shortcomings still existed, such as there were many insurance products but they did not meet the demand of all segments.

The management skill of some non-life insurance companies was not good so they lacked competitiveness. — VNS