In a long-awaited step forward for the Myanmar insurance sector, on 2 January 2019, the Ministry of Planning and Finance (MPF) officially announced its plans to open up the life and non-life insurance sectors to foreign insurers. Further details of the liberalisation, including the insurance licence application process and timetable, were subsequently issued by the Financial Regulatory Department (FRD) of the MPF on 18 January 2019.
This represents a major milestone in opening up the insurance sector for Myanmar's population of approximately 50 million people. To date, the sector has been dominated by the government-owned insurer, Myanma Insurance, with only a handful of foreign insurers being permitted to operate limited non-life insurance business in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone.
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