Dai-ichi Life Insurance to set up shop in Myanmar

Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. has been granted licence to set up a subsidiary in Myanmar, making the company one of five foreign insurers to obtain initial approval to enter the market via a wholly owned subsidiary.

Dai-ichi Life won in-principle approval along with Hong Kong-based AIA Co., Bermuda-registered Chubb Tempest Reinsurance Ltd., Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. of Canada and Prudential Hong Kong Ltd., according to the Ministry of Planning and Finance’s Financial Regulatory Department.

Myanmar announced in January the opening of its insurance sector to foreign firms and released terms and processes to give license approval.

In addition to the five foreign companies, the Myanmar government is expected to grant licenses to five other Japanese insurers by mid-May to operate via joint ventures in which their shareholdings are limited to up to 35 percent, according to the regulatory body, states a report in the Japan Times.

The five Japanese companies are two life insurers — Taiyo Life Insurance Co. and Nippon Life Insurance Co.’s regional arm Nippon Life Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., and three non-life insurers — Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc., Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co.