Iranian insurance companies disbursed 147.8 trillion rials ($547 million) in payouts in the first four months of the fiscal year that started in March, posting a year-on-year growth of 39.9%.
Medical insurance accounted for 36% of total payouts, 54 trillion rials ($200m), up 69% on the same period last year. Third-party vehicle insurance was next 26.1% or 38.5 trillion rials ($142.5m) up 2% year-on-year.
The money was paid for 15.2 million cases, 19.9% higher than the same period a year ago. Medical insurance claims accounted for 94.12% or 14.3 million of total claims, up 21.2%.
The rise in medical insurance claims was largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which so far has infected 5.1 million people. The official death toll reached 110,064 on Sunday while 4.3 million have recovered.
Insurance firms have been urged to broaden the scope of medical insurance to cover costs of the deadly coronavirus, including medicine approved by the Health Ministry and PCR tests.
Income Stream
After months of delay, the Central Insurance company of Iran, the industry regulator, published a report on the performance of insurers according to which they collectively generated 317.2 trillion rials ($1.16b) in premium in the four months.
The mandatory third-party vehicle insurance remained the main source of premium income. Insurers sold 6.96 million third-party auto insurance policies last year worth 113 trillion rials ($418 million), recording a 45.9% growth in value but 0.9% decline in total policies sold.
Medical insurance was the second major source. Companies sold 262,600 medical insurance policies, making 56.7 trillion rials ($210 million) in the four months. The number of policies sold showed an annual growth of 199%, whereas growth in premium income of this segment was 23.3%.
Life insurance generated 50.8 trillion rials ($188m) up 48% year-on-year accounting for 15.8% of insurance companies' portfolio. Insurance and life insurance companies sold 2.5 million life insurance policies, up 18% year-on-year.
Vehicle body insurance accounted for 6.77% of the insurers' portfolio generating 21.4 trillion rials ($79m) up 37.6% annually.
Credit insurance marked the largest growth in premium income during the said period at 192.5%.
The payout ratio of the industry improved during the four months of the current year logging 46.59% growth. Marine insurance recorded the highest payout ratio, 733.9% followed by medical insurance 95.36%.
