Promoting digitisation process
According to Dau tu Chung khoan, due to the recurrence of te Covid-19 epidemic in some provinces and cities, insurance companies have to changesome business development activities in the third quarter (Q3) of 2020. However, fundamentally, important strategies will still be implemented, even if the results may not be as expected.
Talking about business strategies in the “new stiaution”, Tina Nguyen, general director of generali Vietnam said that the company will increase online meetings and training thanks to the effectives of this form, especially during the epidemic season.
According to Tina Nguyen, in fact, the training of agents and online meeting have been deployed by generali for months and will be continued in the near future, no matter how the Covid-19 epidemic develops.
On the other hand, generali Vietnam has prioritised investment in digital technology in all aspects, from customer service, online product introduction, etc. to agency management support and other operating and management processes.
“The social distancing order at the beginning of the year is really a previous opportunity to promote the digitisation process towards the “paperless” goal of generali Vietnam in 2021,” said Tina Nguyen.
At Hanwha Life Vietna, this Korean insurer has actively built a business operating process for a “new normal” since the first wave of the Covid-19 epidemic and this process is still suitable for the current situation.
Representative of Hanwha Life Vietnam said that August will be the opening month of a new journe with many new directions in the context when the economic situation remains volatile.
“To adapt to the reality, the company has promoted the new product called “Hanwha Life Toi chon an yen” which integrates many complrehensive protection benefits for customers; improved the capacity of direct consultancy for agents via special traning and support programmes; continued to strengthen customer service, expanded online fee collection channels; focused and quickly implemented digital projects, etc.”, said the representative.
For Manulife Vietnam, in the recent time, this insurer has also built and completed online platforms to support the comprehensive digital transformation, from recruitment, education to consultancy services, etc. This has come into play when social distancing is required.
Manulife Vietnam has continuously launched digital innovations such as ePose (a digital solution that allows agents to capture customers’ needs) and eClaims (a digital solution for solving customers’ claims), helping customers to be proactive in filing a claim online anytime, anywhere, etc.
In mid-July, Chubb Life Vietnam has completed the electronic customer identification tool eKYC (known as electronic Know Your Customer), which is the next step in the company’s digitisation process.
Chubb Life Vietnam in recent years has continuously made investment in digital foundations to better serve customers and support the sales team, thereby creating a closed technology circle from customers’ search for product information to filing insurance claims, etc.
Statistics of the General Statistical Office showed that the insuance premium revenue of the whole market in the first half (H1) of 2020 increased by 11 percent compared to the same period of last year (the second quarter (Q2) alone witnessed a growth of six percent), in which life insurance premium revenue rose by 13%.
Although the growth of the whole insurance industry slowed down compared to the same period of the previous years, insurance companies acknowledged that life insurance industry is still fortunate as it has not been seriously hit. The epidemic has caused people to be awared of insurance, thereby enhancing the sese of protecting themselves and their families.
According to the Department of the Insurance Supevisory Authority, in 2020, due to the impact of the Covid-19, the growth rate of the total premium revenue fo the entire market is forecasted to fall to 17.24 percent compared to the previous forecast of 17.8 percent (the premium revenue growth of the insurance market in 2019 was 20.54%).
In particular, the premium revenue of life insurance segment is expected to continue to grow as set target, while the growth of non-life insurance segment will slightly decline as the Covid-19 pandemic has affected import and export, transporation, sea transportation activities, etc. and led to a reduction in insurance premium revenue of import and export insurance, health insurance, aviation insurance, etc.
Certainly, to ensure the implementation of the proposed growth plans, life insurance companies will have to make great efforts and be agile in deploying plans to respond to diseases, shifting to online transactions to serve and access customers, using technology in traning and management of agents, improving risk prevention and management, etc.
Talking to Dau tu Chung khoan, representative of a life insurance company said that the market situation will definintely be more difficult when the epidemic recurs. According to him, since the banking industry is slowing down, bancassurance channel can hardly maintain the new premium growth rate of 14 percent as in H1 2020 and so does agent channel. These are thw two main sales channels of life insurance companies.
“Nevertheless, unlike the first months of the year, at this time, life insurance companies have been proactive in the new situation, so they still have the ability to achieve positive growth, or even double-digit growth if the pandemic situation is soon processes in a better direction and does not spread across the country,” said the above representative.
It is known that in order to support insurance companies to overcome difficulties, in the near future, the Department of the Insurance Supevisory Authority will continue to amend policies and mechanisms to remove difficulties and obstacles of insurance companies caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
