Australian insurers seeking growth opportunities in Asia should be looking beyond China and India for expansion opportunities, the Institute of Actuaries of Australia's conference in Christchurch was told today.

Watson Wyatt consultants John Tucci and Verne Baker presented a paper saying current "very low insurance penetration rates" and rapidly developing economies mean Asia "continues to present a very attractive prospect for Australian and other foreign general insurance companies".

Last year, gross written premium written in China surpassed Australia's for the first time, reaching $US25.7 billion ($29.7 billion), making it the largest market in the region.

In addition to the more celebrated China and India, the paper highlights opportunities in the Vietnam insurance market, which has "really come alive over the past two years".

While overall gross written premiums in Vietnam were still a modest $US400 million ($462 million) in 2006, the market grew by 20% last year, just below that of China and India. General insurance premium volumes have been growing by a compound average rate of 23% over the past eight years.

But the market penetration rate in Vietnam is among the lowest in the region, at 0.7% of GDP, compared with 3.1% of GDP in Australia.

Willis, Aon and Marsh are among the eight international brokers operating in Vietnam and restrictions on brokers handling government business are likely to be lifted in the near future.

The actuaries predict the Vietnamese Government will continue to remove barriers to foreign investment to allow foreign insurers and brokers to compete against their domestic counterparts.