Vietnam’s life insurance sector enjoyed 17% year-on-year growth in first half 2021 despite uncertainties driven by COVID-19

Vietnam’s life insurance sector continues delivering positive growth in the first half of 2021 in the context of continued pandemic spread in Vietnam. Mr. Dong Le, FiinGroup’s Head of Market Research and Consulting Services, FiinResearch, shares some insights on how the life sector has performed during the pandemic, key drivers for the outperformance, and sector outlook for 2021 and beyond. 

Despite the negative impacts of COVID-19, FiinResearch observed the outperformance of Vietnam’s life insurance sector with double-digit growth of 21% in terms of gross written premium (GWP) in 2020, and in the first half of 2021, the sector enjoyed a stronger recovery of year-on-year growth of 17% compared to the same period last year.

Figure 1: Life insurance gross written premium and growth in Vietnam (VND bn and %)

Source: FiinResearch, Ministry of Finance

Top 5 players that dominated the market by strong growth momentum are Bao Viet Life, Manulife, Prudential, Daiichi, AIA.

Mr. Dong Le also listed out five key growth drivers to support life insurers to maintain their positive growth in the pandemic, including:

• Low life insurance penetration in Vietnam compared to other peers in the region
• Acceleration of digital transformation during the pandemic
• The development of multi-channel for distribution of life insurance products
• Risk awareness
• Support from life insurers to address customers’ concerns on COVID diseases

In the long run, low life insurance penetration, customers’ risk aversion attitude, and a better understanding of insurance as a means to mitigate unpredictable life events, strong digital transformation trends, favorable demographic factors as well as economic recovery post COVID are expected to continue driving the positive growth of the sector in Vietnam in the time to come.

Read the full article HERE.