The life insurance sector pumped over 215 trillion VND (9.34 billion USD) into the economy in the first half of this year, according to the Insurance Association of Vietnam (IAV). 

Vietnam is now home to 18 life insurers with an annual revenue growth of over 30 percent, providing insurance coverage for more than 7.5 million clients. They pay in excess of 14 trillion VND in insurance entitlements for clients each year and create jobs for nearly 10,000 workers and more than 600,000 agents. 

The birth of the Law on Insurance Business on December 7, 2000 has created a legal corridor for the insurance sector over the past years, said the IAV. 

From 2011-2017, the sector’s reinvestment in the economy expanded by 17.7 percent each year. In 2017 alone, investment made by insurers amounted to roughly 251 trillion VND, up 27 percent year-on-year. 

Le Huong Ly, member of the IAV Executive Board, said insurers need to further popularise products and services to help clients choose those meeting their demand. 

She said one of the biggest barriers now is misappropriation of insurance entitlements and risky terms in contracts, along with the lack of assessment of capability of insurance consultants, which now number around 621,000. 

Insurers called for issuing regulations on professionalism for agents 

Head of the permanent office of the Party Central Committee’s Commission on Education and Information in Ho Chi Minh City Dang Manh Trung said the government is in the process of developing a roadmap for the development of the insurance sector with basic principles of fairness and benefit sharing for parties concerned. 

He underscored the need to establish a channel to provide official information and correct data about the sector, contributing to ensuring social welfare for citizens.-VNA