HÀ NỘI — Vice President of Talanx AG Group Christian Hinch has proposed to the Vietnamese Government to raise the ownership ratio of foreign investors at PetroVietnam Insurance (PVI) to 49 per cent.

Hinch, who is also chairman of HDI Global SE, which owns over 47 per cent stake in PVI, said his group wanted to hold controlling stake in the enterprise, which is a member of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN), to meet the interests and requirements of PVI shareholders who were interested in expanding the scope of its activities to the ASEAN market.

Hinch proposed this at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ in Hà Nội on Thursday.

Huệ said the market for life insurance and non-life insurance in Việt Nam was growing rapidly, but the scale was still modest compared to the country’s GDP (gross domestic product).

“The Government will restructure to develop the insurance market in Việt Nam. Talanx’s intention of expanding investment in the country is in line with Việt Nam’s policy of restructuring the financial and credit system, including the insurance market,” Huệ said.

As a major shareholder, Talanx has helped PVI improve its management capacity and enhance its human resources, said Huệ.

He added that the Vietnamese Government plans to withdraw PVN’s capital contribution from PVI.

Huệ said the Government would assign the Ministry of Industry and Trade to set up a divestment roadmap and determine methods of capital withdrawal and selling prices in line with PVI’s previous commitments with PVN. — VNS