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Insurance industry on the up, defies credit crunch
The insurance market in 2008 is estimated to have grown 8.22 percent compared to last year, earning a total revenue of 26 trillion VND (1.57 billion USD), according to the Ministry of Finance.
Insurance companies had made total indemnity payments of 6.4 trillion VND this year, it said.
For 2009, the ministry targets an average growth rate for the sector of between 12 percent and 13 percent: 8-10 percent for life insurance and 15-18 percent for non-life insurance.
To achieve this, the ministry plans to develop a comprehensive insurance market to meet increasing domestic demand for insurance services, improve the financial and business capacities of insurers and satisfy competitive and international integration requirements.
Amendments will be made to the existing Insurance Business Law and a strategy will be formulated to develop the Vietnamese insurance market during the 2010-2020 period.
Despite the good news, the sector would not be immune from the global financial crisis, the ministry warned, as 2009 was forecast to be a tough year for the insurance industry. General director of Bao Viet Insurance Corporation, Tran Trong Phuc, said the growth rate of the insurance industry had decreased in the latter months of 2008 and the decreasing trend would continue next year.
“The worst affected industries next year will be exports and imports so insurance for ex-import commodities, ships and ship-building will be hit the hardest,” he said.
Demands for construction and automobile insurance would also fail to rebound next year, Phuc said.
With 10 companies set up in 2008, the country currently has a total of 11 life insurance agencies and 26 non-life insurers, one reinsurance company and 10 brokers, with total assets of close to 18 trillion VND. There are approximately 800 separate insurance products currently available on the market.
VNA
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