The Central Insurance company of Iran (CII), the industry regulator, released the performance report after months of delay. Third-party auto insurance, as usual, accounted for the maximum premium income -- more than one-third of the total.
During the period under the review, insurance companies earned 16.3 trillion rials ($65.2 million) from 15.24 million third-party vehicle insurance policies, marking a 30% growth in value and 5.45% increase in the number of policies sold.
The mandatory third-party auto insurance has been a vital source of income for insurance companies contrary to the industry's long and mid-term development agenda.
Struggling with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on their business, insurers' income from medical insurance declined by 18% to 8.4 trillion rials ($33.6m). The CII report said more than 258,000 medical insurance policies were sold during the eight months -- down 92.5% compared to the same period last year.
Medical insurance share of the overall income declined to 17% during the period. Surprisingly, life insurance premium experienced 40% growth. Insurers made 7.2 trillion rials ($28.8 m) through from 4.5 million life insurance policies. Life insurance accounted for 15.08% of industry's premium income, getting closer to the set targets.
Vehicle body insurance, fire insurance and liability coverage were the other main sources of income. Third-party auto insurance was at the top in terms of claims with 36.9% share of total payouts. CII said 9.07 trillion rials ($38.8 million) was paid to holders of third-party auto policies, up 22.8%.
Insurers' experienced a leap in medical claims during the said period paying 7.1 trillion rials to 23.8 million claimants, indicating 13.3% growth in the rial amount and 77.24% growth in the number of claims.
Medical insurance claims accounted for 92.6% of claims and the payout ratio in this segment was 84.16%. Insurers have been struggling to minimize the negative impact of the pandemic on their businesses. Several companies extended coverage to include a part of hospitalization bills of members afflicted by the deadly virus.
As of Sunday Iran’s reported coronavirus infection was 1,243,434. The official death toll was 55,540 and 1,013,018 people recovered.
Dominant Player
CII figures include data about insurance companies performance, as per which Iran Insurance Company, the only state-owned player, continued to dominate. The company alone accounted for one-third of the total premium.
Asia Insurance Company, Dana Insurance Company and Pasargad Insurance Company followed. Dey Insurance Company posted the highest decline in premium income during the said period -- 80% year-on-year.
Middle East Life Insurance Company, the first specialized life insurance company in Iran affiliated to the Middle East Bank, posted 225% growth in premium, outperforming all the insurance companies, according to CII.
Caption: Insurance companies generated 48.01 trillion rials ($192 million) in premium during the first eight months of the fiscal year (March-Nov 2020).