The draft Law on amendments and supplementations to a number of articles of the Law on Insurance Business was put into discussion during the 14th National Assembly’s seventh session on May 20.

An overview of the 14th National Assembly’s seventh session

The bill aims to create momentum for the expansion of the insurance market, while increasing the insurance coverage and strengthening the safety and stability of the market.

The Law on Insurance Business was adopted at the eighth session of the 10th National Assembly and took effect from April 1, 2001.

According to the Insurance Supervisory Authority under the Ministry of Finance, before the introduction of the law, only 15 businesses operated in the insurance sector. However, the figure rose to 64 in 2018, including the subsidiary of a foreign firm.

Total capital of the businesses increased by 29 percent per year on average over the 2000-2018 period, reaching 81.55 trillion VND (3.5 billion USD) in 2018. Total property of the market grew by 28.5 percent during the 2000-2018 period to reach 394.19 trillion VND (16.95 billion USD) in 2018.

In this period, insurance businesses paid over 246.58 trillion VND (10.6 billion USD) in benefits to customers.

The authority reported that so far, the total number of insurance products in the market is nearly 1,300, including more than 450 life insurance products.

Statistics from insurance firms showed that about 80 percent of infrastructure construction and major economic projects by the State have been covered by insurance companies.

Furthermore, the insurance sector had poured 321.16 trillion VND (13.8 billion USD) into the economy by 2018. Insurance firms have invested nearly 89 trillion VND (3.82 billion USD) in government bonds.