Asian News - Myanmar: Japan at the fore among foreign insurers
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Mar 2016
The number of foreign insurance companies in Myanmar has reached 22, with Japan topping the list, according to the Myanmar Insurance Business Supervision Committee.
Three Japanese non-life insurance companies, namely, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, were approved last year to be the first foreign companies to operate in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone.
Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) and Japanese insurers have been extending support to Myanmar in developing its insurance market, with an eye on further liberalisation of the sector.
The FSA plans to offer training programmes to Myanmar’s insurance regulatory officials to share expertise on supervising the insurance sector, reported The Yomiuri Shimbun.
Some Japanese insurers are offering support to their Myanmar counterparts in developing products. Taiyo Life Insurance, which in April 2012 became the first foreign company to open a representative office in Myanmar, helped a local insurer to develop the country’s first health with death benefit which was released last July.
With a population estimated at 55 million, Myanmar’s insurance market is seen to have great potential.