Insurance market may grow by 40 pct
Azerbaijani insurers expect growth in the country’s insurance market by 40 percent by the end of the year.
Mustafa Abbasbeyli, chairman of the Azerbaijan Insurers Association, said at an event on the signing of a memorandum between the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population, the Financial Market Supervision Authority (FIMSA), the Compulsory Insurance Bureau and insurance companies.
“The insurance market of Azerbaijan shows stable growth every year. Every year the market showed a growth of 10 percent, but this year shows a growth of 30 percent. This is evident in the eight months of 2018. Therefore, we expect that by the end of the year the insurance market of Azerbaijan will reach the figure of 750 million manats ($441.18 million), which means a 40 percent increase,” said Abbasbeyli.
The head of the Association stressed that the main task facing the insurance market of Azerbaijan today is to achieve proportional growth of all insurance types.
“To date, some insurance types in the country are growing quite actively, but other types of staying on a stable level. We want to achieve a proportional growth of all types of insurance. In particular, our plans include an increase in compulsory insurance against accidents at work from the current 40 million manats ($23.53 million) to 100 million manats ($58.52 million), which means 150 percent growth for this type of insurance,” Abbasbeyli said.
Moreover, Azerbaijan will strengthen supervision on insurance against occupational accidents, according to the memorandum of cooperation signed at the meeting by Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, FIMSA, the Compulsory Insurance Bureau, as well as insurance companies Ateshgah Life, PASHA Life and Qala Life.
Presently, the penetration rate of insurance against industrial accidents is 35 percent, said FIMSA's CEO Ibrahim Alishov.
"Considering that, out of 3.3 million employees, 1.6 million are insured, as a result of the integration of information systems, penetration of this type of insurance, as well as fees, will significantly increase," he said.
The chief executive also added that fees for this type of insurance in 2017 amounted to 33.2 million manats with payments of 4.3 million manat, and in the 1H018, these figures amounted to 21.3 million and 1.7 million respectively.
Currently, 21 insurance companies are implementing their activities in Azerbaijan.
First top 5 of general insurance companies in January-June 2018 is as follows: AzerInsurance (34.91 million manats-$ million), Ateshgah (19.69 million manats-$ million), Mega Insurance (15.23 million manats-$ million), AtaInsurance (10.35 million manats-$ million)
In general, these eight companies had 343.58 million manats ($202.1 million) or 86.7 percent of all premiums of insurers for the reporting period.
Among the insurance companies in the first half of 2018, PASHA Life Insurance also made the largest payments, reimbursements of which amounted to 31.65 million manats ($18.61 million) or 26.5 percent of all payments of insurers.
PASHA Insurance became the leader in terms of payments in other types of insurance (25.46 million manats-$15 million). Among the five leading insurance companies in terms of the volume of refunds made in this segment, following the results of the reporting period also included: Ateshgah (9.66 million manats$5.68 million), AzerInsurance (7.85 million manats-$4.62 million), AXAMbask (4.69 million manats-$2.76 million) and AzInsurance (4.17 million manats-$2.45 million).
In general, these 8 companies paid 102.68 million manats ($60.4 million) or 86.1 percent of all payments of insurers for the reporting period.