International insurance company, Aviva, has recorded a 21 percent increase in operating profits in the first half of 2010. Aviva is also in the midst of discussing significant structural changes to their profit sharing joint-venture with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which comes shortly after their deal to be the exclusive provider of life protection insurance products with Santander in the UK. Aviva…

The life insurance industry in Vietnam continues to expand. Despite the global economic downturn of 2007 - 2009, the insurance market in Vietnam has been resilient; prompting many leading multinational insurance companies to increase their presence in this growth market. As of July 2010, there were 50 insurance…

ANZ, the New Zealand-based banking giant, has recently announced its plans to launch the new brand OnePath to market their specialist fund management and life insurance businesses, currently under the ING brand, in both Australia and New Zealand.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the number one destination for medical tourism in the Middle East, with an estimated 4.3 million medical tourists seeking treatment in the country. In 2010 the medical tourism sector is expected to generate AE$ 1.7 billion (US$ 462 million). It is estimated that the second half of 2010 will see an increase of 13% compared to the same time last year - an indication…

The life insurance industry in Singapore is riding high, after growth in new sales of life insurance and health insurance policies continued into the second quarter of the financial year. The new business premiums in the Singaporean life insurance market were up 16% year-on-year for the second quarter, with figures for the first half of 2010 showing total weighted new business premiums growing…

French financial services firm BNP Paribas and Paris-based AXA Group have mutually agreed to renew their long-standing agreement, dating back to December 2005, through various industrial projects for an additional three years. The recently signed new agreement will be automatically renewed in an annual basis.

According to a recent announcement, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has approved the Hong Kong-based Bank of China Group Insurance Co., Ltd. to transfer 100 percent of its stake in Bank of China Insurance (BoC Insurance) to the Bank of China. With this move, the Bank of China now becomes the sole shareholder of the BoC Insurance.

The health insurance industry in Vietnam has seen significant increases recently. During the period between the 4th quarter in 2009 and June 2010, 5.5 million new customers were generated. In total over 50.2 million people in Vietnam now have some form of health insurance. The significant growth in the insurance market in Vietnam comes at a time when healthcare insurance providers launch new insurance…

In part of its pending takeover of ALICO, MetLife has been given regulatory approval for the purchase of ALICO's local, wholly-owned subsidiary AHICO. The regulatory approval for transfer of AHICO is part of the deal between AIG and MetLife Inc., which will see MetLife…

  German based Gothaer Group has acquired a 45.42% stake in Polskie Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen (PTU) - PTU is one of Poland's largest insurance companies. The acquisition of the substantial stake in the Warsaw based PTU is part of the Gothaer Group's strategy to venture into the growing Eastern European insurance markets. This realizes an important company objective after previous failed attempts to…