Bangladesh's life insurance market is likely to expand US$1.5 billion in the next three to four years, driven mostly by a growing economy, said Mr Chris Townsend, MetLife's Asia president, in a Financial Express report.
"Currently, Bangladesh's life insurance market is around $1.0 billion a year and we expect it will expand at least 50 per cent in around 2020," he said, adding that the economy has grown over 6.0% in the past decade and life insurance has also advanced steadily, outpacing the GDP rate.
Mr Townsend, who visited Dhaka earlier this month, said that the Bangladesh market is one of the fastest growing in the continent. However, he noted Bangladesh's insurance penetration remained low at 0.5%
According to the Financial Express report, for a robust growth of insurance business, he placed importance on the partnership between the banks and the insurers. He believed that such partnership with the banks will accelerate insurance growth and enhance its penetration tremendously.
"We believe the biggest opportunity for the growth in the sector is bancassurance…," he said.
Bangladesh's insurance sector operates on a traditional mode and MetLife Bangladesh has 15,000 agents, said the report. Mr Townsend said his company had been the number one player in the past 20 consecutive years commanding a market share of around 28% and has emerged the biggest investor in the country's government bonds with its share equivalent to over $1.0 billion.
MetLife has around 12 products in the country now, and has been promoting actuary education through scholarship to deserving students. It bought American Life Insurance Company in 2010 and Bangladesh's operation also merged thorough MetLife. Half of its business comes from two major cities--Dhaka and Chittagong, noted Mr Townsend.