Many insurance giants have poured huge amounts of money into stock investments but have not been effective - Photo: HUU HANH
Thanks to their abundant cash resources, insurance companies often devote a significant portion of their assets to financial investments.
Besides relatively safe channels such as deposits, certificates of deposit or government bonds, they also proactively allocate capital to the stock market - a field that has the potential to generate higher profits, but comes with greater volatility and risk.
Bao Minh reserves a 15% discount on the portfolio.
At Bao Minh Joint Stock Corporation (BMI), the financial report for the third quarter of 2025 shows that this insurance company had short-term financial investments of VND 3,577 billion at the end of September 2025, an increase of nearly VND 320 billion compared to the beginning of the year.
The increase was mainly due to BMI pouring more money into stock investments. The company poured nearly VND370 billion into listed and unlisted stocks at the end of September 2025, an increase of VND235 billion after 9 months.
Notably, BMI is having to make a provision for a price reduction of more than VND 53.4 billion for the total number of these stocks, equivalent to a loss of nearly 15% of the portfolio.
BMI’s Q3 financial report did not explain in detail which stocks they were investing in. But before that, in the Q2 report, BMI’s portfolio was very diverse when investing in dozens of stocks including stocks listed on HoSE, HNX and also stocks on UpCOM or unlisted.
Regarding core business performance, the report showed that BMI's net revenue from insurance business reached VND4,021 billion in the first nine months of this year, up nearly 5% year-on-year.
Financial revenue reached VND240 billion, down more than 13% compared to the same period. After deducting all expenses, this insurance company still reported pre-tax profit of VND301 billion, up 38%.
Not only Bao Minh is "unhappy" because of stock investment, another enterprise, Bao Viet Group (BVH), also recorded losses in stock investment.
According to the financial statement explanation, BVH has a portfolio of stocks and fund certificates with a total value of nearly VND 3,500 billion at the end of September 2025.
Listed stocks alone account for the majority with VND3,111 billion, down slightly by about 3% compared to the beginning of this year. However, Bao Viet's listed stock portfolio is temporarily decreasing as the book value at the end of September was only VND2,976 billion, down VND135 billion compared to the original price.
Revealing the "big guy" in the stock market named Prudential
In addition to BMI and BVH, a number of other foreign-capital insurance companies also allocate a relatively large portion of their money to invest in stocks.
For example, data from Prudential's 2025 semi-annual financial report also shows that they are among the most "aggressive" businesses in stock investment activities.
As of June 2025, Prudential allocated more than VND 19,438 billion to listed securities and securities registered for trading on UpCOM, an increase of nearly VND 340 billion after 6 months.
However, the sale of investment securities recorded a loss of more than VND291 billion, in contrast to the profit of VND719 billion in the same period last year. This loss also contributed to the company's financial revenue decreasing by 35% compared to the same period, reaching VND4,220 billion.
Some other units also have securities investment activities but on a smaller scale. For example, Bao Long Insurance (BLI) had more than 19 billion VND of securities trading at the end of September this year. However, they also had to set aside nearly 3.5 billion VND in provisions for price reduction.
The 3rd quarter 2025 financial report also shows that Petrolimex Insurance - PJICO (PGI) is pouring more than 22.4 billion VND into stock investments. However, in the short-term financial investment section, PJICO is also recording a depreciation reserve of more than 2.9 billion VND.
What is provisioning?
According to accounting regulations, enterprises must set up provisions for price reduction to ensure that investments (stocks) are not recorded at a higher value than their actual recoverable value, helping to accurately reflect the value of assets on financial statements.
If the company has not sold the securities, the provision is only a temporary loss. When the company sells the assets at a price lower than the purchase price, then the actual loss arises. That means the provision does not immediately mean an actual loss, but it reduces the profit for the period.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhung-ong-lon-bao-hiem-rot-nghin-ti-vao-chung-khoan-nhung-dau-dau-vi-tam-lo-20251207122421816.htm
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