Five foreign companies have been granted provisional licences to issue life insurance policies through subsidiaries following more than two years of delay in opening up the Myanmar market, trade website internationalinvestment.net reported.

British Prudential, Japanese Dai-ichi Life, Hong Kong AIA, US Chubb and Canadian Manulife have been authorised to establish wholly-owned life insurance subsidiaries. They are expected to begin operating by the end of 2019, pending relevant requirements.

It marks the first time that the heavily-state-controlled economy has allowed foreign ownership in its fledgling insurance market, which was estimated to be worth only $13 million in life insurance premium revenue as of 2017, the report said.