Non-life insurance companies in the country are faced with a shortageof actuaries who meet national standards, according to the deputygeneral secretary of Vietnam Insurance Association.

Beginning inJanuary next year, non-life insurance companies are required to useactuaries who meet national standards, including being a fellow ofinternational actuary societies, having at least five years of workexperience and at least two certificates in the field issued byinternational actuary societies.

Only one actuary in the countrymeets these standards, according to Ngo Trung Dung, Deputy GeneralSecretary of Vietnam Insurance Association.

Speaking at a recentworkshop at the International University-HCM City, Dung said the countryhas 30 non-life insurance companies, 17 life insurance companies andtwo re-insurance companies.

No university in the country offerstraining in actuary, he said, adding that the InternationalUniversity-HCM City should be a pioneer in training.

It should cooperate with other international universities to offer training, he said, adding that incomes of actuaries are high.

Thecountry's insurance market has seen rapid development. Within the lastfive years, the market's growth rate reached 16 percent, including 11.9percent for non-life insurance.

Last year, the total revenue frominsurance was around 2.6 billion USD. The total assets of insurancecompanies were 7.7 billion USD.

The workshop, held by theassociation in cooperation with the International University-HCM Cityand Vietnam Insurance Association, provided information about arelatively new statistical method called chain ladder. This method isused to estimate outstanding claims, whereby the weighted average ofpast claim development is projected into the future.-VNA