Turkey: Insurance regulator spells out agenda for market growth
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Nov 2021
Turkey’s insurance sector is forecast to report a premium income of TRY100bn ($11.1bn) this year, according to Insurance and Private Pensions Regulation and Supervision Agency (SEDDK) deputy chairman Mete Guler. Market premiums grew by 17.1% to TRY63bn in the first eight months of the year.
Mr Guler said this at the 13th International Istanbul Insurance Conference in October organised by the Turkish Insurance Practitioners Association, reported Insurance Gazette.
“We see that the share of the motor line in premium production has decreased, while the share of health and fire lines has increased. We hope that this increasing trend will activate the current potential of the market,” he said.
Commenting on tasks ahead for the insurance regulator, Mr Guler said, “One of our top priorities is to keep premiums at a reasonable level in compulsory traffic insurance and to come up with a regulation to ensure that compensation payments are predictable. We plan to enact these terms in the near future. Minimum insurance coverage limits have been determined in compulsory traffic insurance. However, there is a need to re-evaluate them in the developing economic conditions. We aim to update the coverage limits for 2022-2023.”
On the implementation of IFRS17, he said that special committees have been formed taking into account the sector’s practices while studies into IFRS17 adoption are continuing.
He said, “We expect domestic and foreign investors’ interest in the sector to increase. The work on the regulation of internal systems has also reached the final stage. Our priority is to strengthen the corporate governance of institutions and organisations in the sector.”
The SEDDK is working to increase the operational efficiency of insurance companies and to reduce their operating costs with the possibility of signing and storing documents securely online. M