Iran's insurance industry is set to improve the quality of services with a four-year transformation plan, head of the Central Insurance company of Iran (CII), the industry’s regulator, said.
"The transformation plan includes specific targets and should be able to create the roadmap for a sustainable future for the key industry.
Among other things, it concentrates on curbing corruption, offer digital solutions for products and procedures, enhance efficient oversight and move toward deregulation," Majid Behzadpour was quoted as saying by the website Way2pay.ir.
"To this end, the CII has started 15 projects to help the industry meet its lofty targets," Behzadpour said.
Electronic prescriptions, the CII's medical project and the Medical Insurance Hub are set to improve the regulator's supervision over medical insurance services and curb scams.
He referred to joint projects with the Traffic Police for implementing online vehicle mishaps and said that the program will be unveiled soon.
"Settlement of damages in vehicle accidents has been a tiring time consuming process…When the online reporting process comes on stream, officers will use a special hardware to instantly submit the accident report to the relevant authorities."
This will be in the interest of insurance policyholders because the new scheme will considerably reduce the duration of the payout process, Behzadpour added.
He referred to another platform for minor car accidents that will not require a report by the Traffic Police as long as the damages do not exceed 200 million rials.
"We have developed a platform for car owners to send the necessary information about vehicle accidents," he said. "Insurance companies will settle the indemnity using the same platform."
Five insurance companies have applied to join the platform.
Smart supervision is a major CII project, he said. "The project will be launched by March and is expected to considerably enhance the CII's market supervisory role." He did not elaborate.
Online Brokerage
Behzadpur reiterated that the “online brokers' gateway project is here to stay because it is a crucial supervisory tool” for the CII.
There has been a long dispute between the insurance regulator and online insurance companies, known as online brokers, over the gateway for online insurance.
Last month the CII ordered all startups to work only with a new firm, Amitis, without contacting insurance companies or brokers. Startups protested saying that that was in breach of acceptable competition norms.
Startups accused the CII of trying to create a “market monopoly over all transactions made by online insurers and setting up a quasi-private company”.
Local media outlets reported last week that the CII admitted that there are fundamental differences in the business models of online and traditional brokers/agents and promised to rewrite regulations related to the gateway in a way that it supports new businesses, after a recent meeting with online brokers.
