The advantages and challenges of the Vietnamese life insurance market were discussed at a meeting between the Insurance Association of Viet Nam and Ton Duc Thang University in HCM City.

At the meeting attended by more than 500 students, deputy chairman of the association, Ngo Trung Dung, said modern technologies are bring opportunities for the life insurance industry to develop.

“Technology helps improve service quality in all processes from sales to claims. It also helps strengthen the interaction between insurance companies and customers.”

Online sales would grow strongly in future, he forecast.

Talking about the challenges, he said life insurers should improve their operations or would be left behind.

Using modern technologies like big data, AI and cloud to develop online marketing channels would help insurance companies get millions of customer, something that companies using traditional methods took a long time to achieve, he said.

Another challenge is the risk of leaking data, he said. Thus the more insurers depend on technologies, the bigger their risk, he said.

Furthermore, consumers could use technologies to cheat insurers.

The market’s potential is huge since public awareness of the importance of life insurance has improved, he said.

Besides, with increasing affluence people are spending more on insurance, he said.

At the meeting, the experts shared with students many information about the market as well as experiences on how to well manage the market and have successful jobs at life insurance sector.

The association said there are 18 insurance companies in the market with combined revenues of VND66.2 trillion (US$3 billion) last year.

In recent years the market has been growing at an average of 30 per cent a year.

Only about 8 per cent of Vietnamese people have life insurance, a modest figure compared with other markets in the neighbourhood.

At the meeting, the association presented 50 insurance dictionaries to students and teachers of the university. — VNS