Manulife Vietnam and Dai-ichi Vietnam have been accepting heavy losses in exchange for market shares, indicating a fierce competition in Vietnam`s life insurance market.
In 2017, Vietnam’s life insurance market showed a contrasting picture, in which three major 100 percent foreign-owned life insurers namely Manulife Vietnam, Dai-ichi Vietnam and Prudential Vietnam saw a slump in profit, while state-controlled Bao Viet Life posted a pre-tax profit of VND1 trillion (US$43.75 million), up 60 percent year-on-year.
Dai-ichi Vietnam in 2017 recorded a pre-tax loss of VND515 billion (US$22.5 million) versus a profit of VND135 billion (US$5.9 million) one year earlier.
Similarly, Manulife Vietnam reported a pre-tax loss of VND1.24 trillion (US$54.25 million) while it made a VND463 billion (US$20.2 million) profit in 2016.
Prudential Vietnam, meanwhile, saw a slump of 60 percent in its pre-tax profit, going down from VND1.6 trillion (US$70 million) in 2016 to VND645 billion (US$28.2 million) in 2017.
The result was due to those companies’ growth in business expenses outpacing their respective growth rate in insurance-related revenues, of which Dai-ichi Vietnam is 65 percent and 50 percent, Manulife Vietnam of 82 percent and 33 percent, and Prudential Vietnam of 65 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
Notably, Bao Viet Life’s revenue growth came at 30 percent in 2017, which is lower than that of both Dai-ichi Vietnam and Manulife Vietnam, indicating a shift in market shares in the life insurance market.
Additionally, Dai-ichi Vietnam’s equity in 2017 has increased from VND2.93 trillion (US$128.1 million) to VND5.77 trillion (US$252.4 million), and Manulife Vietnam from VND2.72 trillion (US$119 million) to VND5.63 trillion (US$246.3 million).
Bao Viet Life, meanwhile, maintained its equity at VND3.55 trillion (US$155.3 million).
In spite of the lowest revenue growth among others, Prudential Vietnam is currently the leading life insurer in Vietnam with equity of VND6.23 trillion (US$272.5 million) and total assets worth VND74.1 trillion (US$3.24 billion) in 2017.
Prudential Vietnam’s revenue stood at VND26.2 trillion (US$1.14 billion) in 2017, up 43 percent year-on-year.
