VietinBank and Manulife announce exclusive 16-year bancassurance partnership

By Edil Corneille

Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) and Manulife Financial Corporation (Manulife) announced the signing of an agreement between VietinBank and Manulife Vietnam to establish an exclusive 16-year bancassurance partnership to better meet the growing financial and insurance needs of the Vietnamese people.

Manulife Vietnam will be the exclusive provider of bancassurance solutions to VietinBank customers in Vietnam soon after regulatory approval is obtained. As part of the transaction, Manulife Financial Asia Limited will also acquire Aviva Vietnam Limited (Aviva Vietnam). The acquisition of Aviva Vietnam will be subject to regulatory approvals. Manulife expects the partnership to be accretive to diluted core earnings per common share in 2022 and the impact on the LICAT ratio is expected to be less than 1 per cent

The partnership with VietinBank is expected to significantly grow Manulife Vietnam’s distribution capabilities across the country and strengthen Manulife Vietnams’s position in the country.

Mr Lê Đức Thọ, Chairman of VietinBank said: “VietinBank and Manulife Vietnam have strengths and ambitions that complement each other – in particular, our strong shared focus on providing customer-centric financial products, services and solutions to Vietnamese individuals, families and businesses. The signing of the agreement is an important milestone that marks our cooperation with Manulife Vietnam. We believe that the relationship between VietinBank and Manulife Vietnam will grow strongly as we progress towards our vision of being the leading and most reputable bank in Vietnam, providing the most comprehensive and effective financial solutions to our customers.”

Roy Gori, Manulife President and CEO, said: “We are extremely pleased to enter into partnership with VietinBank, Vietnam’s leading bank. We share an ambition to accelerate digital transformation to make lives better for millions of people across Vietnam. This partnership increases our market share leadership in Vietnam and capitalizes on our strong position as one of the leading international life insurers in Asia, further progressing our growth trajectory in the region.”

Anil Wadhwani, Manulife Asia’s President and CEO said: “We are very excited to expand our ability to support improved health and retirement outcomes for a rising, more digitally enabled population in Vietnam through this partnership. Vietnam is one of the region’s greatest economic success stories. Partnering with VietinBank means that we have even more opportunities to address the health, protection, savings and investment needs of customers in Vietnam and to make the lives of millions more Vietnamese every day better.”

Manulife Vietnam will work closely with VietinBank to design and offer a full suite of insurance, wealth and retirement products that serve the needs of all key customer groups in Vietnam. These products will be distributed through a professional and well-trained sales force supported by the latest digital tools and processes.