Insurance companies generated 115 trillion rials ($4.11 billion) in premium income in the last fiscal year (March 2021-22) posting 41% growth on the year before.
Data released by the Central Insurance company of Iran, the industry regulator, show third-party vehicle insurance, which is mandatory in Iran, again topped the list alone generating one-third of the premium.
Insurers sold 24.5 million third-party auto insurance policies last year worth 40.1 trillion rials ($1.43 billion) – up 46.3% in premium income.
Medical insurance was the second earner with 18%. Companies sold 1.233 million medical insurance policies making 21 trillion rials ($751.1 million) last year. Medical insurance policies accounted for 1.73% of total sales and premium income in this category was 34% higher than the previous year.
The life insurance segment generated 18.3 trillion rials ($655 m) up 45.37% y/y accounting for 15.96% of insurers’ portfolio. Insurance and life insurance companies sold 7.8 million life insurance policies last year.
Vehicle body insurance accounted for 7.68% of the portfolio generating 8.8 trillion rials ($315m) up 23% on an annualized basis.
Payouts
Total payouts amounted to 64.95 trillion rials ($2.13 billion) during the year, up 48% from the year before. Third party vehicle insurance accounted for 35% of the total payout at 23.1 trillion rials ($825m), up 31%.
Medical insurance payouts accounted for 33.9% or 22 trillion rials ($786m) of the total payouts, up 86%. Insurers paid claims in almost 49 million cases accounting for 93% of the total number of claims in the year.
The rise in medical insurance claims was largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which so far has infected 7.2 million people in Iran. The official death toll reached 141,165 on Saturday while seven million people have recovered.
Soon after the pandemic spread insurers were told to broaden the scope of medical insurance to cover costs of the deadly coronavirus, including medicine approved by the Health Ministry.
Despite the devastating impact of Covid on their business, insurers see the pandemic as a rare development that allows them to improve their tarnished credentials with customers who rightly complain about the strange practices, mainly of expensive private hospitals, in demanding full payment of bills and refusing to deal with the bureaucracy of insurance companies and other hassles.
