The Top 10 Life Insurance Companies in 2025: Bao Viet Life Insurance Maintains its Lead, While Manulife Jumps to 5th Place

The top 10 life insurance companies in Vietnam include: Bao Viet, Prudential, Dai-ichi, AIA, Manulife, Chubb, Generali, FWD, Hanwha Life, and Cathay Life. Compared to 2024, the top four leaders remained unchanged. Meanwhile, Manulife rose to fifth place, surpassing Chubb, and FWD advanced from tenth to eighth position.

In the non-life insurance sector, the 10 most reputable insurance companies in 2025 are: PVI, Bao Viet, Bao Viet Bank Insurance, BIC, MIC, Bao Minh, PTI, ABIC, OPES, and BSH. Among them, PVI maintained its leading position in the top 10 non-life insurance companies.

According to Vietnam Report, the top 10 reputable insurance companies are selected based on scientific and objective principles. Enterprises are evaluated and ranked based on three main criteria: (1) Financial capacity reflected in the latest financial statements; (2) Media reputation assessed through the Media Coding method – coding articles about enterprises in influential media channels; (3) Surveys of research objects and related parties, updated to May 2025.

Vietnam’s insurance industry faced challenges in 2024

Vietnam Report indicates that in 2024, Vietnam’s insurance industry continued to face difficulties. The total market premium revenue reached approximately VND 227,500 billion, a slight decrease of 0.26% compared to the previous year. Life insurance experienced a deep decline of 5%, falling to VND 149,200 billion, marking the second consecutive year of negative growth. In contrast, non-life insurance maintained its recovery trend with an impressive growth rate of 10.2%, reaching VND 78,300 billion, driven by health insurance, motor vehicle insurance, and property insurance.

Despite stagnant revenue, the total insurance benefit payments increased significantly by 15.7%, estimated at VND 93,900 billion, reflecting high compensation due to natural disasters and social unrest. Notably, life insurance payments surged by 25%, reaching VND 71,400 billion. Meanwhile, non-life insurance payments decreased slightly by 6.3%, amounting to VND 22,500 billion.

Vietnam Report’s statistics on the financial statements of insurance companies show that the period from 2020 to 2022 witnessed positive growth in Vietnam’s insurance industry due to the post-COVID-19 effect. Approximately 30% of companies achieved revenue growth of more than 25% annually, while the rate of revenue decline remained below 20%, indicating a stable and promising market. In terms of pre-tax profits, despite increasing costs in compensation and technology investment, over 50% of companies recorded profit growth, reflecting the effectiveness of process digitization and operational control in the context of intensifying competition.

However, the picture changed significantly in the period from 2023 to 2024, with a strong reversal. In 2023, only 10.9% of companies achieved revenue growth of more than 25%, while the group with revenue decline soared to 32.6% – the highest rate since 2020. This was mainly due to a crisis of trust related to life insurance and bancassurance distribution channels, leading to a wave of contract cancellations and a sharp drop in new business premiums.

In 2024, the situation became more challenging due to natural disasters, especially Typhoon Yagi, which caused severe losses of lives and property. The total economic damage was estimated at more than VND 81,703 billion, of which the property compensation request alone amounted to VND 10,595 billion (according to data from the Ministry of Finance).

According to statistics from the Insurance Management and Supervision Department, as of early December 2024, insurance companies had advanced nearly VND 600 billion to settle claims temporarily, leading to a sudden increase in compensation costs and directly affecting the business results of the entire industry. Vietnam Report’s survey shows that 44.4% of companies experienced a profit decline of more than 25% – the highest rate in the 2020-2024 period. Revenue also remained subdued, with only 6.7% of companies achieving growth of over 25%, while the “unchanged” group jumped to 28.9%, clearly reflecting the stagnation of the market.

2025: A pivotal year for the insurance industry

In 2025, the insurance market is showing signs of recovery after a turbulent period. In the first four months, the total market premium revenue was estimated at VND 74,889 billion, an increase of 5.4% compared to the same period last year.

Notably, the non-life insurance sector continued to drive growth with an increase of about 11%, thanks to the recovery in demand for property insurance and new policies such as Decree 105/2025/ND-CP, which regulates the increase in compulsory fire and explosion insurance premiums, creating significant growth potential from the second half of the year. Meanwhile, the total assets of the industry were estimated at VND 1,000,000 billion, an increase of 8.79%, reflecting the solid financial strength of insurance companies.

At the same time, the entry of banks into the insurance market has raised expectations for an integrated financial-insurance ecosystem, supporting the expansion of distribution channels and enhancing consumer accessibility. According to Vietnam Report’s enterprise survey, 53.8% of companies anticipate market growth of 5-10% in 2025, driven by the synergy of internal recovery and policy impetus.

In this context, technology emerges as a bright spot and the most critical “pivot” for the industry. It is no longer just a supporting tool but has become a strategic pillar, helping companies optimize costs and personalize customer experiences. According to Vietnam Report’s survey, 100% of insurance companies consider technology as the most significant opportunity in 2025. Notably, the percentage of companies planning to increase technology investment has approached an absolute level, rising from 95.5% in 2024 to 98.7% in 2025, reflecting the industry’s determination to accelerate digitization.

Along with internal transformation efforts, the market is also witnessing a positive shift in consumer behavior. After a wave of contract cancellations and negative reactions in 2023, people have become more proactive in understanding and choosing insurance products. Instead of making hasty decisions based on brief introductions, customers are now taking the initiative to inquire, ask questions, and select products that better meet their actual needs.

According to Vietnam Report’s consumer survey, the proportion of people who correctly understand the insurance products they are participating in has increased from 44.2% in 2023 to 60.8% in 2025 – a clear step forward from the crisis period. Notably, for controversial products like linked insurance, the proportion of buyers who did not fully understand has dropped significantly from 97.9% to 54.4%. Similar improvements can be seen in mixed insurance and periodic payment products, with the proportion of misunderstandings falling to 45.3% and 46.7%, respectively.

The positive change in consumer awareness is not a coincidence but a result of a series of strong adjustments made by insurance companies after the trust crisis. According to Vietnam Report’s enterprise survey, 92.3% of companies have proactively implemented in-depth training programs for their consulting teams, focusing not only on sales skills but also on enhancing their ability to explain products, clarify rights and responsibilities, and accompany customers after signing the contract. This shift is essential in redefining the role of consultants from “contract closers” to “financial companions.”

Along with improving the quality of the team, 53.8% of companies have established a strict disciplinary mechanism, where consultants who violate multiple times will be heavily penalized or have their cooperation terminated. This serves not only as a deterrent but also as a necessary step to eliminate cases of misleading and opaque consulting practices, which have been likened to “one bad apple spoiling the bunch,” damaging the reputation of the entire industry.

Particularly in their collaboration with banks – a distribution channel that accounts for a significant proportion of life insurance revenue – 61.5% of companies have added clearer clauses to define responsibilities. This not only improves cross-selling control but also enhances transparency and minimizes instances of forced insurance purchases when applying for loans.

As the insurance industry strives to seize opportunities for recovery and repositioning, systemic challenges persist and tend to increase, with the most serious being insurance fraud. According to Vietnam Report’s survey, 84.6% of insurance companies consider this the most significant challenge they face in 2025, surpassing other challenges such as tightened consumer spending (76.9%), intensifying competition (66.7%), increasing compensation and insurance payments (46.2%), and rising consumer demands (38.5%).

In 2024, several severe insurance fraud cases were uncovered, notably organized crimes involving falsified medical records, staged traffic accidents, and deliberate misreporting of risk occurrence times. More recently, a shocking case of a mother murdering her child to claim insurance benefits caused an uproar in public opinion.

While each fraud case may cause minor damage, when committed simultaneously and in an organized manner, they result in considerable losses for companies, erode public trust in insurance, and negatively impact the reputation of the entire industry.