Hanoi (VNA) - Most insurance businesses are planning to apply newtechnologies in management systems and improving customer services, and manyalso plan to study new products to meet the market’s demand and diversifyinsurance sale channels, according to a recent Vietnam Report survey.

Just over 82 percent  offirms said they aimed to use digital technologies as momentum for growth in theFourth Industrial Revolution, while 64.7 percent  planned to build on two key factors of the FourthIndustrial Revolution, including Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data.

The survey showed that the total insurancepremium in the first quarter of the year of all surveyed companies was higherthan the same period last year. Life insurance businesses said their premium inthe January-March period rose on average of 159 percent  from last year and that of non-life insurancerose 24 percent .

The positive factors in the economy, favourable conditions ofthe population and insurance firms’ efforts to expand operation scale andimprove financial ability contributed to the high growth, Vietnam Report said.

In addition, the foreign ownership at insurance companies whichhas been rapidly increasing also brought favourable conditions to the market.

The insurance sector is highly concentrated, as the top fiveleading life insurance businesses accounted for 80 percent  of the total market share and top fivenon-life insurance firms made up 60 percent  of the total.

For this reason, insurance enterprises have been facingincreasing competitive pressure to occupy market shares, Vietnam Report said.

Many non-life insurance companies such as Bao Viet, PTI, MIC and BIC have applied digital technologies totheir insurance payment management. Non-life insurance firms such as Prudentialand Aviva, with support from their parent groups, have invested in artificialintelligence with chatbots to support their businesses.

Developing new products has also been a priority as people havepaid much attention to their health.

The survey also revealed that 64 percent  of surveyed companies would continue toresearch new products for different customers.

In addition, insurance businesses have been promoting theircoverage in the market and expanding their networks by establishing branchesand offices, online sales and cooperation with banks through arrangements knownas bancassurance.

They have also cooperated with fintech and healthcare servicecompanies to sell their products.

The growing cooperation between banks and insurance throughbancassurance has been a major story in the 2017-18 period, with big deals suchas Manulife and Techcombank, Aviva Vietnam and Vietinbank and AIA and VPBank.

Bancassurance has seen strong growth in the past two years,becoming an important distribution channel in the insurance market.

In addition, cooperation between insurance companies andfintech has been a new factor in the market. Around 79 percent  of insurance companies said they planned toexpand cooperation with fintech to develop distribution channels and insuranceservices on the internet and payment sector.

In the 2011-17 period, the total investment of insurance firmsinto the economy rose 17.7 percent  ayear on average. This showed that Vietnam’s insurance market not only is auseful tool to protect investors in most economic sectors such as assets,aviation, credit and healthcare but also a mid-and-long-term capital channel forthe economy.

Experts and insurance companies said the Government shouldcontinue to enhance support policies to gradually improve transparency in themarket. The solutions to improve the business environment and competitivenessof the Finance Ministry have brought positive results in the market.

Insurance firms said they would continue promoting growth,expanding scale while improving product and service quality.

Most negative information about insurance companies in mediacame from complaints relating to insurance contracts and payment.

Insurance businesses should enhance training on human resourcesand build dispute-resolving processes to ensure the customers’ rights.-VNA