(DT) - Bao Viet General Insurance Corp. has signed a US$3.9 million five-year contract with wealth management applications supplier Bravura Solutions Ltd. and insurance technology provider SSP to enhance its general insurance administration and its information technology infrastructure.According to Bravura, the agreement includes the licensing and implementation of SSP's general insurance administration solution, which will support more than 2,500 employees that service more than 10 million individuals and corporations. It will also be integrated with Bravura's life insurance application that is currently being used by Bao Viet Life Insurance Corp.
BVGI's spokesperson told BestWire that currently, there are 28 nonlife insurers in Vietnam and market competition has become more intense. Customer service is a key solution if it wants to remain the leading nonlife insurer in this competitive market, the spokesperson said.
By cooperating with Bravura, which is one of the strategic partners of Bao Viet Holdings -- the parent of the nonlife insurer -- BVGI can improve its service quality, such as shortening the claims-settling time, having better risks control and linking up all 66 branches of the insurer in Vietnam, BVGI said.
"With the market continuing to develop rapidly, we must respond quickly, so functionality and system flexibility were key considerations," said Alan Royal, chief information officer of Bao Viet Holdings, in a statement.
The cooperation between Bravura and SSP is another "significant" step forward in the Vietnamese insurance group's "modernization" strategy and will provide "solid" information technology infrastructure to support its future growth, said Royal.
Last year, BVGI's affiliate Bao Viet Life Insurance Corp. signed a US$4 million deal with Australian insurance information technology company Bravura to modernize its administrative infrastructure (BestWire, Jan. 15, 2009).
Bao Viet Holdings earlier said it will focus on five tasks to strengthen its business foundation in 2010, including management and technology change and customer service improvement, completing a corporate management model, investing in human resources, increasing coordination among subsidiaries and brand innovation.
The company also said in a statement that despite the fierce competition in the nonlife business and other economic challenges in 2009, it maintained a top position in the nonlife market, with an estimated total revenues reaching about 4 trillion dong (US$217 million), up 8.5% from that in 2008. Profit before income tax reached 216 billion dong, or 23.75% increase from 2008.
In the life business, revenues were estimated at more than 3.7 trillion dong, equivalent to 8.12% growth and exceeding its original plan of 5% growth in 2008. Bao Viet Life's profit before income tax was estimated as 367 billion dong, up 188% from 2008 and exceeding its original plan of 12.96% in 2008, said Bao Viet Holdings.
