The number of new contracts within the Vietnamese life insurance industry saw a 4.3% y-o-y growth in the first quarter of the year, according to the Insurance Association of Vietnam's vice secretary general Ngo Trung Dung.
Investment-linked insurance product group still accounted for the highest proportion with more than 54% of the total number of new contracts, despite a decrease of 7.7% as compared to last year. General insurance products continue to account for the largest proportion with 47%, down 8.9% on-year.
"In contrast, unit-linked insurance products increased slightly, accounting for 7.2% and increased by 2.6% y-o-y. This indicates that investors are gradually paying more attention to products associated with investment performance," Mr Ngo said at a Prudential event in Hanoi on May 12.
Term insurance products recorded a growth of over 30%, increasing by just under 20% y-o-y, while mixed insurance products showed a decline of 4.3%, down more than 36% for the period as compared to last year.
Other insurance products such as health insurance, retirement and whole-life insurance made significant progress, accounting for 11% of the total number of new contracts and growing by 118%, reflecting customers' increasing interest in long-term protection and comprehensive care products, he said.
However, the total number of contracts in effect at the end of the period decreased by 5.5% on year to nearly 11,450,000 contracts. Universal insurance products still held a dominating position with 57.6%, followed by mixed insurance products at almost 24%.
According to the IAV, the total new premium revenue in the life insurance sector was estimated at VND5.58tn ($223m) in March, up by 2.4% y-o-y. The leading firms in terms of new premium revenue are Bao Viet Life with VND1.37tn, AIA with VND642bn, Dai-ichi Life with VND634bn, Generali with VND441bn, and Prudential with VND401bn.
The total cumulative premium revenue of the entire life insurance industry in the first quarter of 2025 is estimated at more than almost VND34tn, up 1.2% y-o-y. The revenue structure continues to reflect the advantage of the general linked product group, accounting for 56.4% of total revenue. Mixed and unit-linked insurance products account for 14.2% and 13.9%, respectively. The remaining products such as whole life, death, retirement, health and endowment insurance only account for a total of 2.4%.
This story was originally reported by the Vietnam Investment Review.