The Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (CTRF) of the Ministry of Finance has contacted financial institutions, including insurance companies and banks, about complying with regulations covering anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).
The preliminary draft law on insurance, which is currently being finalised, will make it possible to further diversify insurance products and systems, with an emphasis on financial inclusion, in particular via takaful, management of new risks, while giving a large place to digitalisation, the secretary-general of the National Insurance Council (CNA), Mr Abdelhakim Benbouabdellah, has affirmed.
The Algerian insurance market is estimated to have generated a little more than DZD160bn ($1.19bn) in premium income in 2023, marginally higher than the DZD155bn posted for 2022, according to preliminary industry figures.
State-owned insurance company Compagnie Algérienne des Assurances (CAAT) and the Algerian Startup Fund (ASF) have signed an agreement to provide insurance coverage for all beneficiaries of funding granted by the ASF.
Islamic insurance start-up El-Djazair Takaful has posted contributions exceeding DZD76m ($565,000) in 2023, announced the El-Djazair CEO Mahfoud Ziane Bouziane.
Algérie Poste (AP), the state-owned company that provides postal services in Algeria, and the National Insurance Company (SAA), the biggest insurer in the country, have signed a service contract for insurance compensation payments through postal establishments.
The recovery in the automobile market in Algeria is expected to increase the turnover of insurers by between 5% and 10% in 2024, according to Algerian Union of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies vice president Hassan Khelifati.
Although Algeria has adopted the modern approach to mitigating the risks of natural disasters by making catastrophe insurance compulsory since 2003, the take-up rate currently is below 10%, according to the Minister of the Interior, Mr Brahim Merad.
The online inter-company platform dedicated to motor insurance has enabled, since its launch in 2022, the processing of more than 634,000 claims, involving a total of DZD35.82bn ($267.3m), according to the president of the Algerian Union of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies (UAR), Mr Youcef Benmicia.
The insurance industry in Algeria has taken a giant step into the technology era with the launch of Hayat, the first artificial intelligence (AI)-based insurance chatbot by the life insurer Macir Vie.