Latest figures released by the Central Insurance company of Iran, the supervisory authority of the industry, show the critical status of medical insurance with its loss ratio crossing 106% in the first ten months of the outgoing fiscal year that ends in March.
Insurance companies generated 905 trillion rials ($3.14b) in premium during the ten months posting a growth of 37.5% compared to the same period of last year. Medical insurance accounted for 162 trillion rials ($611m) or 17.9% of the total premium, up 19.6%.
During the said period companies sold 928,000 medical insurance policies, 177% higher than in the corresponding period last year. However, 172.3 trillion rials ($650m) was paid in claims in the medical insurance segment that was 82% higher on the previous year.
Total medical insurance claims grew by 42% to 40 million and 94% of the claims were settled during the period. A large part of the money was paid to cover bills related to Covid-19. Since the early days of the virus outbreak, insurance companies were told to cover all the expenses of policyholders infected with the brutal virus and expand the scope of medical insurance cover to include PRC tests.
More than 25 million Iranians have medical insurance.
Third party auto insurance remained the leading source of income generating 312.7 trillion ($1.18 billion) or 34% of the industry’s total premium income. CII data showed 47% growth in premium year-on-year.
Life insurance was the third top source of revenue, generating 146 trillion rials ($550 million) or 16.22% of the total in the ten months.
Auto body insurance with 7.4%, liability insurance 5.19% and fire insurance 4.6% were the other main sources of income. Freight insurance registered the highest growth at 74.75% year-on-year.
More than 56.7 million insurance policies were sold during the period under review, 5.12% higher on the previous year. Total payout was 472 trillion rials ($1.7 billion) -- 45.6% higher y/y.
Third-party vehicle insurance was the next big payout segment at 30.72% or 125.8 trillion rials ($474m) up 21.06% y/y.
The payout ratio during the ten months was 52.15%, up 2.86% on the same time last year.
The CII report said Iran Insurance Company, the only state-owned company, still accounts for the largest portfolio with 31.7% share of the key industry.
Asia Insurance Company with 11%, Dana Insurance Company with 7.7% and Pasargad Insurance Company with 6% ranked after IIC.
