Iranian Insurance Firms' Premium Income Exceeds $1.2b in H1 (Mar-Sep 2018)

EghtesadOnline: Iran insurance industry earned 183 trillion rials ($1.28 billion) from premiums during the first six months of the current Iranian fiscal (March-September).

News ID: ۷۸۴۲۱۸

20 October 2018

According to data released by the Central Insurance of Iran, the figure shows a growth of 25.4% compared to the same period last year.

The Iran Insurance Company as the only state-owned insurer had a 32.3% share in the earnings, well above other insurers and the rest belonged to private insurance companies, the CII website reported.

“We’re trying to increase the share of private insurance firms because we believe in promoting private enterprise,” Gholamreza Soleimani Amiri, the CII's head said.

According to Financial Tribune, more than three fourth of the premium income (76.6%) generated in H1 belonged to eight insurers with IIC top of the list followed by Asia Insurance at 11.3%, Dana Insurance 7.5%, Alborz Insurance 6%, Parsian Insurance 5.4%, Pasargad Insurance 5.2%, Kowsar Insurance 4.6%, and Moalem Insurance 4.4%. The remaining belonged to 19 other companies.

Firms sold over 30.1 million insurance policies, registering an 8.4% increase year-on-year.

The lion’s share of policy sales during the six months was for mandatory auto third-party liability, accounting for 36.3% of the total revenues. Next was health insurance at 20.9% and life insurance at 14.8%.

According to Soleimani Amiri, insurance companies paid a total of 108.7 trillion rials ($762.8 million) for claims during the aforementioned period, registering an increase of 23.2% YOY.

Private insurers accounted for 66.6% of the payouts.

Insurance companies covered close to 26 million cases of losses, up by 21.2% YOY.

The insurance industry’s payout ratio stood at 59.3%, slightly lower than the same period last year.

According to the official, nine insurance firms had the highest payout ratios, with Day, Mihan, Dana, Razi, Alborz, Iran, Sina, and Parsian insurance companies recording 425.4%, 93.3%, 73.1%, 67.8%, 64.7%, 61.3%, 60.2% and 60.1% respectively.

The payout ratio of credit insurance was 179.7%, while health insurance stood at 104.9% during the period, followed by motor third-party liability at 60.3%.