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Mr Jack Howell, CEO of Prudential Vietnam, spoke about how it maintains its leading position in such a competitive industry and comments on new developments in the market.
Congratulations on
the 10th anniversary of Prudential Vietnam. What have been the most
significant achievements over the last ten years?
I think the biggest successes are the trust of
customers in Prudential, which builds up our prestige, and the values
that we bring to them through our excellent services and products. There
are many factors contributing to the success of Prudential in Vietnam,
such as the strength and prestige of Prudential and its valuable
support to our operations in Vietnam, the strong support of regulators
which has been very important and conductive to the development of the
life industry, and appropriate business strategies and implementation of
such strategies.
However, the foundation of our success is our
people. More than 50,000 staff and agents at Prudential have been
selected and trained carefully in a professional environment where they
are challenged but also rewarded for their contributions. Their
professionalism, skills and strong ambition for success were key factors
for Prudential in achieving our market leading position quickly and
maintaining that position for the past ten years.
You said that human resources are a key factor in the
success of Prudential Vietnam. What is your strategy for training and
developing agents?
Prudential’s large, professional agent network plays a
significant role in our business operations. It is they who present our
daily image to the public. We have therefore focused on investment in
our agents in terms of both recruitment and professional training.
We have a very well-organised agent support system -
agency development, agency support and agency training - and also
frequently provide upgraded training to enhance quality and
professionalism.
This year we initiated
several new training programs and rolled out training automation to
equip agents with sufficient professional skills. By October we had
recruited over 40 per cent more agents than in the same period last year
and have increased our agent network by over 25 per cent.
What’s also very important is that starting in Q3 this
year all new agents must take a standardised test provided by the
Ministry of Finance (MoF). The test can be administered by MoF and it
certifies the results before licensing. Prudential has quickly adjusted
our processes to meet these new requirements. We are also preparing for
on-line tests to improve the quality and efficiency of the testing
process.
Besides ensuring consistency
and high standards in licensing new agents, the new process has also
enhanced the image of the insurance agent profession, as it is now
officially recognised by the government and society.
Traditional endowment products have dominated the life
insurance market in Vietnam. What do you think about the emergence and
development of non-traditional products, including investment-link and
bancassurance products?
Thanks to the strong Vietnamese tradition of
prioritising education for their children, traditional endowment
products, particularly education and savings, have become the favourite
choice of many customers. However, the same objectives of ensuring a
future for our children can also be achieved with other types of
products such as universal life and unit-linked products. Thanks to
their flexibility, unit-linked products can meet the multiple objectives
of protecting, saving, and investing at any life stage. In other
regional countries, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and
Indonesia, for many years now unit-linked products have been very
popular and account for over half of policies sold. In early 2008
Prudential became the first company to launch unit-linked products in
Vietnam. We’ve seen very encouraging results, with 10 per cent of our
new business premiums in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi coming from this new
product and 70 per cent of new unit-linked policies being sold to
existing customers. We are hoping to obtain regulatory approval for
expanding the product nationwide.
As awareness of the benefits of life insurance
improves, protection products such as term life and credit life (via the
bancassurance channel) will also become more popular. These products
are more affordable for people on lower incomes who wish to be
protected, or for higher income earners who use life insurance as a
means of protecting their wealth or lifestyle.
Can you tell us more about the advantages of bancassurance?
I would say that the
potential advantages of this channel are significant. Firstly, it is a
completely unexplored area that offers significant growth potential. The
banks are growing their consumer base rapidly, and with insurance
penetration being fairly low in Vietnam bank customers can get access to
insurance products in their branches. Bank customers can also use their
bank accounts to pay their premiums, which is a major convenience in
managing their long-term commitments with an insurance policy.
The areas to work on are essentially in terms of
training and the development of awareness about bancassurance in general
among customers and, in particular, banking staff. Insurance products
need to be treated as another product in the portfolio of banks. With an
increased focus from the banks and investment by the insurance
companies in training and development, the model can potentially yield
strong results in the coming years.
Prudential has witnessed relatively good growth of more
50 per cent, to October, from the bancassurance channel, compared with
the same period of last year. Prudential is now present in over 40
branches of its partner banks, providing relevant insurance products to
bank customers through more than 50 sales representatives.
With the rapid development of the banking sector, and
Prudential's continued investment in the channel, we aim to achieve
higher growth rates in the years to come.
VnEconomy News (03/02/2010)
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