Hanwha Life, Overcoming COVID-19 and Thriving Overseas Including Vietnam

Vietnam Subsidiary Import Insurance Premiums Up 24%
Indonesia Improves Organization of 11 Sales Offices

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Hanwha Life Vietnam branch opened a sales office and customer service center in the Binh Tan area of Ho Chi Minh City last September. Binh Tan is an area where many foreigners, including Korean expatriates, reside. Hanwha Life plans to secure a new sales network to increase its market share in the local insurance market. As of the third quarter, the Vietnam branch operates 118 agencies, including 16 branches.

Hanwha Life is thriving in overseas markets such as Vietnam and Indonesia despite the global spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). This success is the result of early entry into these markets and steadily securing influence.

According to the insurance industry on the 18th, Hanwha Life Vietnam branch's third-quarter premium income was 123.5 billion KRW, an increase of 24.7% (24.5 billion KRW) compared to the same period last year. Considering this growth trend, it is expected to surpass last year's premium income of 143.1 billion KRW by the end of the year.

Since starting operations in 2009, the Vietnam branch has been pursuing a localization strategy as a differentiation tactic to gain a competitive edge in the market. Vietnam's insurance history is short, having implemented the Insurance Business Act only in 1999. The total assets of life insurance companies operating locally are about 2.0% compared to Korea, and premium income is about 3.9%, indicating a small scale but excellent market potential.

Hanwha Life focuses on improving the efficiency of its sales organization by hiring a large number of locals to reflect local culture and sentiment and to operate sales activities suited to market conditions. In metropolitan areas, there are directly managed branches, and in provincial areas, the nationwide sales network is mainly composed of exclusive corporate agencies (GA).

Recently, the company has been accelerating collaboration to strengthen digital competitiveness. In August, it formed strategic partnerships with 'MoMo,' Vietnam's number one e-wallet platform company, and 'Viet Union,' a simple payment service provider, to offer digital financial services.

Established in 2013, the Indonesia branch has also become a successful model following Vietnam. The premium income scale of the Indonesian life insurance market reaches about 15 trillion KRW, and this year, premium income is expected to increase by about 10-14%.

The Indonesia branch is working on organizational improvements for 11 sales offices centered on three major metropolitan areas?Jakarta, Medan, and Surabaya?to establish a stable sales base focused on individual channels. It also plans to secure competitiveness by operating strategic channels such as bancassurance and group channels.

A Hanwha Life official explained, "We plan to build a small but solid business area by promoting strong internal strengthening and scale growth while improving sales productivity and efficiency through enhanced agent training."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.