Cardif, the life insurance unit of BNP Paribas Assurance, has announced that it is to sell life insurance, personal protection and savings products in Vietnam through a tripartite agreement with Vietnamese bank Vietcombank and Seabank, a Hanoi-based bank focused on small and medium-sized enterprises.
Cardif, Vietcombank and Seabank will hold 43%, 45% and 12%, respectively, of the joint venture and will apply to the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance for an operating license. Once established, the new insurance company will initially develop savings and personal protection products through the networks of the two partner banks.
Eric Lombard, chairman and CEO of BNP Paribas Assurance, which has been operating in Asia since 1997 and now has six million insurance customers across the region, said: Our close collaboration with Vietcombank and Seabank allows us to reinforce our position in the Asian bancassurance market.
According to BNP Paribas, Vietnam is a promising market for financial services and life insurance because, while its economy continues to grow by 7% a year, its banking penetration rate is still low. It added that Vietnam has become an even more attractive market since it joined the World Trade Organization in November 2006.
BNP Paribas commented that the alliance reflects Cardif’s global partnership strategy, through which it already holds stakes in insurance companies in India, Thailand and South Korea.