Myanmar has approved six joint ventures between local insurers and five companies from Japan and one from Thailand as the government moves to attract foreign investments and grow the country’s under-penetrated insurance industry, according to an announcement of the Ministry of Planning and Finance.

The approved life insurance tie-ups are between Capital Life Insurance and Tokyo-based Taiyo Life Insurance Co; Citizen Business Insurance and Bangkok-based Thai Life Insurance; and Grand Guardian Life Insurance Co and Osaka-based Nippon Life Insurance. The non-life joint ventures are between AYA Myanmar General Insurance and Tokyo-based Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance; Grand Guardian General Insurance Co and Tokyo-based Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance; and IKBZ Insurance Co and Tokyo-based Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co.

According to MOPF’s 2017  Statistical Yearbook,  Myanmar’s insurance industry recorded 56.75 billion kyat ($37.54m) of premiums between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017. Currently, only 86 in 1,000 people have insurance in Myanmar. Japanese insurance company Dai-Ichi has forecast the sector will expand 100-fold, to $1.3bn, over the next decade, according to Nikkei Asian Review. Even then, it would still be relatively small; insurance premiums in Vietnam were estimated at $5.75bn last year.

Source: International Investment 

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