Dream customers like Oanh abound in Vietnam, where a boom in the life-insurance market has startled even the foreign companies that are creating it. A combination of swelling savings and mounting insecurity, triggered by the transition to a market economy, has pushed policy sales far ahead of expectations. While foreign investors in most other industries moan about bureaucracy and poor returns, the life-insurance firms couldn't be more bullish. The thriving market is helping to mobilize savings for use in the kind of investment that's essential to upgrading Vietnam's infrastructure. Given citizens' distrust of the corrupt, inefficient state banking system, life insurance is an enticing investment for families, which tend to pool their savings.
Foreign companies are committed to investing all premium revenue in Vietnam.
The challenge lies in finding profitable investments. The insurers aren't the only ones taking chances. In this virgin territory, let the buyer beware. Despite insurance firms' pronouncements on forging an ethical market, an enthusiastic corps of thousands of new sales agents often skims over the fine print in policy contracts. They just want to get more and more commissions.