Hanwha Life Extends a Helping Hand in Vietnam

On July 15th, 2014, Hanwha Life held a celebration after the completion of the house built by the “Building Houses with Compassion” project in Long An, Vietnam. Upon finishing the construction of 40 houses, which began in March, the insurer donated them to low-income families in six provinces, Ca Mau, KiênGiang, ĐắkLắk, BinhDinh, Long An and Vinh Long, which means six additional “Friendship Villages” between Vietnam and Korea.

The “Building Houses with Compassion” project has continued for two years. Through the project, Hanwha has donated a total of 133 brick houses, including 93 homes last year and 40 homes this year, to Vietnamese people in need. The most distinguished feature of the project is that the project has been implemented by both the public and private cooperation. The Vietnamese government donated a portion of state-owned land, and Hanwha Life and ChildFund Korea participated in the project.

More than 80 individuals participated in the completion ceremony, including Baek Jong-guk, Hanwha Life’s Head of Vietnamese branch, Consular Kim Jae-cheon of the consulate general in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam and TRAN HUU PHUOC, the vice head of Long An, to express gratitude for Hanwha’s continued corporate social responsibility activities. In addition, Hanwha Life built and donated a kindergarten in Hòa Bình to help the education of ethnic minorities in Vietnam. Following the construction of the elementary school this year, the insurer donated a kindergarten building and education materials.

To make it clear that the company is an insurer, Hanwha Life donated health insurance policies to 10,422 people in order to help them get medical services. This was the first time any Korean company in Vietnam ever offered this type of service. In Vietnam, the subscription rate for health insurance is quite low, so we donated the services because the elderly people and children in low-income families do not have access to decent medical services. The total expenses for the project and health insurance donation are around 270 million won.

Baek Jong-guk, Hanwha Life’s Head of Vietnamese branch, said, “I am very happy to present the houses with compassion which will be a warm shelter and the foundation of independence for our neighbors in need as well as health insurance policies. Hanwha, one of the global insurers seeking to grow together with local communities, will make a greater effort to fulfill its social responsibility.”

TRAN HUU PHUOC, the vice head of Long An, said, “Many people live in old houses with leaky roofs, but we cannot afford to rebuild such houses or repair them. Thanks to Hanwha’s support, their new houses will give them a new hope in life.”

Hanwha Life was the first Korean insurance company to reach the local market of Vietnam in April of 2009. The establishment of Hanwha Life’s Vietnam Branch is the first case that a domestic life insurer invested 100% of the branch’s shares to sell its products in a foreign country. This year is the fifth year of our Vietnam Branch. The branch has received positive evaluation for its success in soft-landing by building a stable organization and achieving great performance in securing new policyholders.

Currently, Hanwha Life takes the seventh place in terms of shares of the life insurance market in Vietnam. The sales performance of new policies has increased more than seven fold from 1.9 billion won in 2009 to 13.9 billion won in 2013. The number of branch offices also increased from 5 to 34 in 2013, which span major cities, including Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Danang and CânThơ, to build a national sales network.