Hanwha Life Insurance, the oldest life insurance company in S. Korea, has rolled up its sleeves to break into overseas markets since it declared 2015 as the first year of its endeavors to transform itself into a top-notch global insurer at the 2015 Business Strategy Meeting.
Though Hanwha Life Insurance has built its strongholds in Vietnam, China and Indonesia, Hanwha Life Vietnam is definitely at the forefront of its push for global expansion.
In April 2009, Hanwha Life Insurance became the first Korean life insurer to enter the Vietnamese market. And it became the first Korean insurer to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in Vietnam. Seven years on, Hanwha Life Vietnam is now considered to have made a soft landing on Vietnamese soil. Having achieved organizational stability, it makes a good showing in the number of new contracts.
Hanwha Life Vietnam’s well-thought-out localization strategy takes the credit for its smooth entry into the Vietnamese life insurance market. Except the CEO of Hanwha Life Vietnam and two other staff members, nearly 240 employees, including financial offers, the Chief Sales Officer (CSO) and sales managers, were sourced locally from the local talent pool. They are well versed in how the local insurance and financial markets work and can smoothly communicate with insurance sales agents. Also, their strong sense of fellowship has played an important role in jacking up its organizational competitiveness.
The value of Hanwha Life Vietnam’s new contracts surged eight-fold to VND 261.2 billion in 2014 from VND 30.8 billion in 2009. The number of branch offices ballooned from 5 in 2009 to 49 at the end of June 2015 as its sales network, centered on major cities, such as Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Danang and Can Tho, has fanned out across the nation.
Hanwha Life Vietnam now has 245 employees on its payroll. The number of insurance sales agents jumped to 10,296 as of the end of June 2015 from a mere 450 in 2009. Refusing to get complacent with the status quo, it has set a goal of becoming one of the top 5 insurers in Vietnam by 2020.
In addition to the expansion of its sales network, Hanwha Life Vietnam has been intent on developing new products and improving customer services in order to meet consumers’ diverse demands. Such an effort has paid off: it won the Golden Dragon Award for its excellent service for five consecutive years (from 2010 to 2014). The Golden Dragon Award is an accolade bestowed on the best products or services by The Vietnam Economic Times, the VCCI (Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam.
Hanwha Life, albeit a latecomer to the fast-growing Vietnamese market, has created over 10,000 jobs through its localization strategy and provided advanced, professional customer services. What’s more, it has succeeded in differentiating itself from others by exploiting S. Korea’s advanced information technologies. By reducing the geographical distance between Hanwha Life Vietnam and its headquarters in S. Korea via IT and networking technologies, Hanwha Life Insurance successfully set up an ‘insurance management information system (IMIS)’ this year.
Hanwha’s IMIS is designed to analyze and provide necessary, key information needed in running an insurance company. It can be called a reservoir of Hanwha Life’s strategic business directions and technologies. As such, Hanwha Life has spared no efforts in introducing its advanced information technologies to the Vietnamese insurance market, pursuing a mutually beneficial partnership with Vietnam.
Furthermore, it has been carrying out various CSR activities, making the most of its insurance business. It is leading by example amongst Korean companies operating in Vietnam: it donated 18,622 health insurance cards to low-income, elderly people and underprivileged children who badly needed medical attention. To top it off, it is currently building a community health center to help improve low income earners’ access to medical treatment.
Its CSR approach is pretty much localized. It donated floating backpacks, i.e. school backpacks doubling as life jackets, to schools in Mỹ Tho, where most students go to school by boat. Its CSR activities date back to before the inception of Hanwha Life Vietnam in 2009. Hanwha employees visited children’s hospitals, located in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, to entertain child patients with snacks and varied events. And they have continued to do so to date.
Hanwha employees have also mounted blood donation campaigns. Since many Vietnamese people had to sell their blood for a living in the pre-industrial period and many still do so, there is emotional resistance to donating blood amongst Vietnamese people. However, as Hanwha employees actually rolled up their sleeves and donated blood during a blood donation campaign, roughly 100 employees of other local companies, located in the same building as Hanwha Life Vietnam, followed suit. The blood donation campaign was heavily covered by many local Vietnamese media outlets, thus helping Hanwha Life leave a positive impression on many Vietnamese people.
