Larry Madge, CEO of Sun Life Vietnam, said he is inspired by the lifestyle of Miss Universe Vietnam 2017 H'Hen Nie as he explained choosing the beauty queen as the firm's brand ambassador at the 'I Choose the Sun - For a Bright Future' special event recently held in Ho Chi Minh City.

He further shared his thoughts on the new brand ambassador and Sun Life's visions in a recent interview.

What message does Sun Life want to convey when choosing H'Hen Nie as the brand ambassador

We chose to work with H'Hen Nie because she is a positive and inspirational person.

We admire her optimism, her effort to overcome challenges in life, her achievement of her goals, and her contributions to the community.

I learned that H’Hen Nie not only uses her rewards for charity, but also contributes to building libraries for poor children, installing street lighting for her hometown, and raising funds for many other charitable causes.

H’Hen Nie is an inspiration for people to rise and lead positive lives.

To the youth, she conveys optimism and a healthy lifestyle that benefits society.

Therefore, we have come to recognize that H’Hen Nie is an excellent ambassador for Sun Life Vietnam.

Does choosing H’Hen Nie as brand ambassador signal a shift in Sun Life's business strategy?

Sun Life's business strategy certainly will not change.

We are still in pursuit of helping clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives.

However, with the companionship of H’Hen Nie, I hope we can spread this message to more people, help them know about us and join us in community activities.

What activities will H'Hen Nie and Sun Life participate in?

H’Hen Nie will participate in community programs with Sun Life Vietnam to build a healthy lifestyle as well as to provide financial management knowledge.

Specifically, the annual 'Sun Life Resolution Run helps raise public awareness about the importance of building an active lifestyle, while our 'Live Healthier Lives – Basketball Hoop Installation' program for schools nationwide helps students build a habit of doing exercise and living a healthy lifestyle from a young age.

Along with that is a series of workshops in the nationwide 'Women with Personal Financial Management' program to provide knowledge about personal finance and family finances for women.

The workshops will help participants be more confident and optimistic to make good financial decisions.  

With such activities, it seems that besides providing personal financial management solutions, Sun Life also aims to build a healthy lifestyle for the community. As a sportsman, can you share your secret of maintaining a long-term workout routine?

Among Sun Life's upcoming series of activities. there will be a program to install basketball hoops at schools across the country.

The reason we chose to do this activity is because we want to formulate a habit of playing sports for children from an early age.

Maintaining this in a school environment will help shape an active lifestyle for them in the future.

In addition, this sport does not require too much space and the basketball hoops can be installed anywhere in the schoolyard.

Students can play alone or with friends, so it’s a very convenient way to practice sport.

For me, no matter how busy my schedule is, the first thing I do in the morning is exercise.

It could be jogging, bicycling, or doing push-ups, depending on the time I have.

Among my family members, we also organize many activities for bonding such as bicycling or annual ski holidays.

I have a 16-year-old daughter and she is also very active in sports activities such as track-and-field and swimming at school.

It is known that Sun Life is currently the market leader in pension insurance. However, in Vietnam, not many people are familiar with buying insurance for their retirement. In the near future, what will Sun Life do to raise people's awareness about this?

Currently, the need to buy pension insurance is often ranked lower than other priorities in life such as personal needs, family care, and buying houses or cars.

So the question is how we can change this habit.

Previously, we spent a lot of time talking to employees and business owners to help them be more aware of the needs and responsibilities of ensuring workers' well-being.

We received a lot of positive feedback where many business owners agreed to buy pension insurance packages to help employees have more protection.

We also believe that as the economy grows and income increases, workers will become more and more interested in retirement insurance, and it will become a priority in their lives.

What do you say to people who are still convinced that "insurance is easy to buy but difficult to claim?"

It is true that many people have this thought.

However, in reality, the terms of compensation in the insurance contract are made clear.

Therefore, what you need to do is declare truthfully when buying insurance so you can be compensated when something goes wrong.

If someone intentionally conceals or incorrectly declares information, that can lead to problems when the time comes for them to claim insurance.

We always stress that our counselors must clearly explain this to customers when signing contracts to prevent this problem.

Is Sun Life interested in cooperating with banks to distribute insurance (bancassurance), which is currently an emerging trend on the market? How do you assess the potential of this field?

Bancassurance is a good distribution channel, which is developing rapidly alongside the traditional distribution channels, especially in the last 2-3 years.

Sun Life is currently operating in seven countries in Asia, and we are very strong in this segment in all countries except Vietnam.

In Vietnam, we are working hard to find a partner that is a good fit for Sun Life.

We hope to find a suitable one soon so we can bring our bancassurance experience to Vietnam.

Thank you for the conversation!