The Central Insurance company of Iran published a report on the industry's sales stating that the number of branches and agents increased in the last fiscal year (March 2020-21).
More than 83,900 insurance agents were active during the year -- 8.7% higher than the year before, the regulator said. The number of agents specializing in the life insurance segment increased 12.9% to 44,300.
Pasargad Insurance Company, affiliated to Bank Pasargad Iran, alone accounted for 41.1% of active agents across the country with 34,483 agents. Iran Insurance Company was second with 13,242 agents, followed by Asia Insurance Company.
CII data also shows that Pasargad accounted for 71% of life insurance agents during the period under the review.
Insurance companies had 1,384 active branches -- 5.1% higher on the same period the year before.
Unsurprisingly, Iran Insurance Company had 212 branches, 15.9% of the total in the country. Asia Insurance Company and Pasargad Insurance Companies were next with 111 and 88 branches, respectively.
CII also said that most branches were in Tehran Province (16.5%), followed by the northern province of Mazandaran 5.9% and East Azarbaijan 5%.
The total number of brokers also increased 12.1% to 1,082 and the number of loss assessors jumped 66.1% to more than 1,080 by March 2021. Nearly 40% of loss assessors were also based in the sprawling capital and its suburbs.
The growth comes amid the huge challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic, which clobbered most business including the insurance sector.
As the industry gradually moves to innovate, the CII in May 2020 instructed insurers to transfer the process of sale, renewal, and claims of personal auto policies to an online platform.
Companies were required to provide agents and representatives access to online platforms to support their business. The growth of insurance startups is seen as a major hurdle in the way of insurance companies' sales network.
Alluring Business
The insurance industry is becoming more appealing to investors. The regulatory body has said it received several proposals for establishing new insurance, life insurance and reinsurance companies.
So far 33 insurance companies operate in Iran including offshore firms and reinsurance companies. This is likely to reach 46 with the regulator saying that 13 are ready to enter the market, including two new life insurance companies Karizma Life Insurance and Hamerz Life Insurance; four reinsurance companies, Saman Reinsurance, Pars Reinsurance, Tehran Reinsurance and Raya Reinsurance; and two general insurance firms, Pardis Insurance and Farda Insurance.
The regulator is expected to issue ‘permission in principle’ for five other firms, namely Etemad Insurance, Bamdad Insurance, Soroush Insurance, Persian Reinsurance, and Isatis Life Insurance.
Hurdles and challenges notwithstanding, the regulator expects growth in companies' premium income to reach 1,100 trillion rials ($4.3 billion) in the current fiscal year that ends next March.
Total premium reported in the last calendar year was 820 trillion rials ($3.4b), more than one-third of which was from the mandatory third-party auto insurance.
