Azerbaijan's insurance firms collect premiums worth $231 million

By Aynur Karimova - AzerNews 

Some 27 insurance companies operating in Azerbaijan have collected premiums worth 242.4 million manats ($231 million) in the first half of 2015, which is 14.3 percent more than the same period of last year.

This remark was made by Orkhan Bayramov, the head of the Association of Insurers of Azerbaijan, at a press conference on July 23.

"A revitalization of the corporate sector, compulsory insurance types, and life insurance play important roles in the growth of the market," he said.

Bayramov also noted that the insurance business is gradually turning into an investment business in Azerbaijan, using the analogy of Western experience. "But life insurance continues to be the locomotive of the market."

The companies pay out some 38 manats ($36.2) worth of insurance settlement for every 100 manats ($95.3) worth of insurance premiums. This ratio stood at 30.9 per 100 manats ($29.44) in the first half of 2014.

Bayramov went on to add that AIA plans to create a call center to inform the public on insurance products.

"In this regard, it is scheduled to start discussions with the insurance companies in the second half of September," he said. "Representatives of the Bureau of Compulsory Insurance and the State Insurance Supervision Service under the Finance Ministry will be involved in the negotiations as well. First of all, we want to start with compulsory insurance types, and then expand the coverage."

Bayramov also stressed that the experience of the ASAN service would be useful in the creation of the call center, and did not rule out the possibility of considering the experiences of other call centers, such as the Taxes Ministry.

Bayramov also named three companies that were granted rights to sell life insurance products in Azerbaijan – PASHA Life, Ateshgah Life and Qala Life – and said that these companies alone collected 65.9 million manats ($62.79 million) in the first half of 2015 from all types of life insurance plans, representing a 17.5 percent increase when compared to the same period last year.

The share of life insurance premiums in the total amount of fees collected by the 27 insurance companies amounted to 27.2 percent.

The official exchange rate on July 23 was 1.0495 AZN/USD.