On April 21, the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance granted in Hanoi the Managing Director of Generali Group Sergio Balbinot a license to run Life insurance operations. The new company, Generali Vietnam Life Insurance Company, is wholly owned by Generali and headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, where a representative office opened at the end of 2009.
Economic conditions in Vietnam are extremely favourable to the development of the insurance industry, which grew by 22% in 2010 alone thanks to conducive demographic factors (population of 88 million, of which 60 million active) and a low insurance penetration ratio (just 1.6% of GDP) coupled with a domestic saving ratio close to 30%. GDP grew by 6.78%, beating the USD 100 billion threshold. Another extremely important element is the remarkable result attained by the Government in bringing down the poverty ratio from 22% in 2005 to the current 9.45%, which positions Vietnam in the ranks of middle income countries.
The new license extends the Generali Group’s presence in Asia to 8 countries: China, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Vietnam. The area represents a strategic market for Generali, in view of its high economic growth and high household saving propensity.
Over the last few years, Generali has strengthened its position in the region: in 2010 the Group reported 43.6% growth in premium income in the area as a whole.
Generali has been operating in China since 2002 and is now one of the most important foreign life insurers in the country. Today, it is active in 10 provinces, through a network of more than 6,000 agents and 830 financial advisors.
In India, Generali has been operating since 2007 and can count on more than 50,000 agents and 3,400 financial advisors.