On April 3, 2026, Asia Insurance Review confirmed Sun Life Vietnam had retained first place in Vietnam’s voluntary retirement insurance sector despite intense competition from Manulife and Prudential.
Its voluntary retirement portfolio crossed ₹6,200 crore in assets under management (AUM) by December 31, 2025, an 18% year-on-year jump from ₹5,250 crore in 2024.
The figure, released by Sun Life Vietnam, gives the insurer a 22.1% market share in a sector whose total AUM reached ₹28,100 crore at year-end. That beat the nearest rival—Manulife Vietnam—by nearly 7 percentage points.
“Our voluntary retirement plan grew faster than the market average,” said Truong Thi Hoai Thu, Chief Pension Solutions Officer at Sun Life Vietnam. “And we launched a tiered contribution feature on December 1, 2025, allowing customers to scale up their monthly deposits without paperwork.”
The tiered model lets participants start with as little as ₹4,500 per month and step up without fresh underwriting.
The company’s success came despite a Q4 2025 slowdown in group pension deposits, which fell 11% month-on-month to ₹385 crore. Still, individual voluntary plans absorbed the slack.
“Group plans aren’t growing at the same pace,” Thu added. “But our focus on individual freelancers and tech professionals has paid off.”
Retirement insurance in Vietnam is distinct from the Indian model. While India offers tax-deductible ₹1.5 lakh under Section 80C for term insurance and ₹50,000 under NPS, Vietnam’s voluntary retirement plans lack mandatory tax breaks. Yet Sun Life Vietnam’s AUM keeps climbing.
It expanded its agent force by 380 in 2025, bringing the total to 4,210 agents. Female agents now make up 63% of the frontline sales team, up from 58% in 2024.
The insurer also launched a mobile app in November 2025 that lets users monitor their future payouts. To date, 72% of new voluntary retirement customers have registered.
Competitor Manulife Vietnam finished 2025 with ₹5,100 crore in AUM, a 17% increase, while Prudential Vietnam’s portfolio stood at ₹4,200 crore.
“Achieving this scale,” Thu said, “requires strict cost control and risk-based pricing.”
Sun Life Vietnam began its Vietnamese operations in 2009 and has since become the only foreign life insurer with a wholly owned life insurance license.
In October 2025, it ran a campaign offering extra units to policyholders who stayed invested for 12 uninterrupted months. More than 18,000 clients joined the loyalty program.
Voluntary retirement insurance currently accounts for 8.4% of Vietnam’s total life insurance premium, up from 7.2% in 2024.
