The Central Insurance company of Iran, the regulatory body, has plans to require insurers to convert all insurance procedures into digital format by the end of the current fiscal year in March 2021.
Gholamreza Soleimani, the CII president, said medical insurance, life insurance and claims are the three priorities for digitization, the CII website quoted him as saying.
"By digitization of insurance services, the regulator seeks to pave the way for companies to offer innovative insurance cover and attract customers," he said.
"The process of buying life insurance should be as simple as possible. This is the first step." Soleimani called on insurers to put more effort into attracting investments.
The process of digitizing insurance procedures began in May when the CII ordered insurance companies to switch personal auto policies into electronic format.
Insurance companies were required to switch the process of sale, renewal, and claims of personal auto policies to an online platform.
Digitization of third party vehicle insurance is aimed at supporting customers. It was a right move towards boosting the efficiency of insurance companies and encouraging them towards advanced technology.
Special Codes
Last week the CII announced that transport and fire insurance policies should have a distinctive code that will be given by the newly established platforms.
For transport insurance, the special code emerges automatically after receiving confirmation from the National Trade System and the Headquarters to Combat Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Exchange.
Owners of the cargo and warehouse where the goods are destined should also have transport insurance. Fire insurance cover for goods in warehouses will be valid only if it has the newly announced code.
According to the official, since the establishment of the platform, 2.3 million codes have been generated by the CII platform for supervising transport insurance.
Iranian insurers generated 210 trillion rials ($913 million) from insurance policies in four months to July 22. Almost 105 trillion rials ($456m) was paid in claims. Personal vehicle insurance (known as third-party insurance) accounted for 39% of the total premium.
Slow growth of the key insurance industry growth has become a source of concern among stakeholders. The majority of insurance companies have been slow in innovating. Setting up a user-friendly platform for insurance policy buyers in a short time is a major challenge for most companies, if not outright impossible.
