The largest U.S. mutual life insurer announced Tuesday that it has been given a license to establish a wholly owned life insurance company in Vietnam.
The license was presented by Vietnam's prime minister, Phan Van Khai, to Sy Sternberg, New York Life Insurance Co.'s chairman and chief executive officer, at a ceremony Tuesday in Washington that was attended by Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez.
The company is to distribute its products in Vietnam largely through a career agent force emulating the New York Life sales model developed and refined during a century in the United States. This system is used in all the company's international ventures. In the United States New York Life is a leading provider of life insurance to the Vietnamese-American community.
Vietnam wants to join the World Trade Organization, and a New York Life executive indicated that his company's participation in Vietnamese economic development could help further this goal.
New York Life International offers insurance products through subsidiaries and affiliates in Mexico, Argentina, China, Hong Kong, India, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
