Total premiums grew by 22.5% y-o-y to IRR277.2 trillion (US$8.5 billion) in the financial year ended 20 March 2017, with the 24 privately held insurers in Iran accounted for 62.2% of the total market share, reported the Financial Tribune, citing data from the industry regulator Central Insurance of Iran (CII).
Iran Insurance Company (IIC), the only state-owned player in the sector, made up the remaining market share. IIC previously controlled over half the market, but the government and CII have announced plans to open the field up to private insurance players to give a boost to the insurance industry.
A handful of insurers – Asia Insurance, Dana, Alborz, Parsian, Pasargad, Moalem (previously known as Export and Investment Insurance Company) and Karafarin – accounted for 82.8% of the total premiums earned by private-sector insurers and the rest was shared by other insurers.
The figures also show that privately held insurers paid 57.3% of the total claims and the rest was covered by IIC. In addition, the loss ratio of private insurers stood at 59.5% for the FY, 14.7 percentage points lower than that of the state-owned sector.
Personal motor line takes 40% of market share
Personal auto policies (PAPs) have remained the top source of revenue for insurers in Iran in the last FY, with this class of business showing a growth of 28.8% to IRR109.4 trillion and accounting for 39.5% of the total premium income.
Premiums from medical and life insurance amounted to IRR65.2 trillion and IRR37.1 trillion, representing 23.5% and 13.4% of the market share, respectively.
The industry’s total paid claims reached IRR180.2 trillion during the last FY, marking a rise of 24.8% y-o-y. PAPs accounted for a large part of the losses of more than IRR78 trillion or 43.4% of the total claims. Medical insurance paid out IRR55.3 trillion in claims, accounting for 30.7% of the total claims.
In terms of loss ratio, medical insurance had the highest at 84.9%, followed by vehicle insurance at 72.0% and personal auto policies at 71.4%. The average loss ratio of insurance market was 65%.
Life premiums surged 36.6% to IRR37.1 trillion and represented 13.4% of the total market share for the year. CII has said that it is encouraging insurers to expand their life business. M
IRR1,000 = US$0.03