Asia Financial Services

Strong economic growth and demographic change are catalysing the rapid expansion of Vietnam’s insurance sector, with premiums growing at double-digit rates and likely to do so for some years to come. Thanks to successive liberalising reforms since the 1990s, a range of foreign insurers and investors are benefitting from this growth, and competition looks set to grow as new entrants eye the...

With economic growth, solid corporate earnings and a rising need for financing among domestic companies boosting stock markets and stimulating private equity activity, Vietnam’s capital markets have grown steadily in recent years. A wave of equitisation of state-owned enterprises is boosting the sector further, while a growing range of indices are broadening options for investors. A new...

Robust economic growth, the easing of restrictions on foreign bank ownership and increasing technological sophistication have added to the dynamism of the Vietnamese banking sector in recent years, as the industry puts the mini-crisis of 2012 behind it. Recent years have been characterised by substantial credit growth, as well as ongoing measures to address bad debt. Banking penetration is...

In the wake of sweeping reforms undertaken since 2011, Myanmar’s banking sector has been advancing at a rapid pace to become safer, sounder and better regulated. The majority of banking institutions are rising to the challenge by adopting international best practices, especially in terms of accountancy, and investing in systems that promise to transform the way they operate. Until recently...

With strong premiums growth in recent years, a liberal investment environment and a low penetration rate, Indonesia’s insurance sector is poised for a period of rapid expansion. A slight market slowdown in 2013-14 – due in large part to regional economic volatility – appears to have reversed course in the first half of 2016, with positive implications for the country’s insurers, particularly...