Hanwha Life Insurance Co. said on Wednesday that its operation in Vietnam which Korea’s second largest life insurer considers as a gateway to Southeast Asian market generated its first quarterly profit in January-March period. The company, which was first among Korean life insurer to enter Vietnam in April 2009, pledged to join the top five rank in the Southeast Asian country by 2020.

In a regulatory filing on Wednesday, the company said that Hanwha Life Insurance Co. (Vietnam), better known as Hanwha Life Vietnam posted a pre-tax net profit of 1.1 billion won ($930,941). The profit is estimated to be around 500 million won after tax. “It should be considered as a huge success given that it usually takes long time and heavy investment for an insurance company to establish sales networks in a new market,” said an unnamed official at the company.

As of the first quarter of this year, Hanwha Life Vietnam had a total asset of 125.3 billion won, running 54 outlets and employees 12,521 sales agents. With 37.7 billion revenue it recorded last year, it ranked 8th among the 17 life insurers in the country. It seeks to become the 5th by 2020 and also considers acquiring local companies.

The company sees a great potential for the bancassurance market in Vietnam. It plans to partner with Woori Bank Vietnam and carefully mulls cooperating with other banks at home and abroad.

The company attributed the success in the market to localization strategy. Except for the general director and two employees, it filled 230 executive jobs including the chief sales officer and finance officer with local hires. The strategy seemed to have paid off in strengthening bond among the employees which resulted in a good performance.

Hanwha Life Vietnam has also incorporated information technology (IT) into its sales by setting up a data analyzing system last year in order to provide more customized service. It has built a public health care center in an underprivileged region to contribute to the local society.

By Park Joon-hyung

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]