The Central Insurance company of Iran (CII) published a report on the industry's performance saying the number of branches and insurance agents increased in the last fiscal year that ended in March.
More than 94,700 insurance agents were active in the year – 12.9% higher than the year before, the regulator said. The number of agents specializing in life insurance shot up 20.2% to 53,300.
Pasargad Insurance Company, affiliated to Bank Pasargad Iran, alone had 42, 122 agents or 44.5% of the total across the country. Iran Insurance Company was second with 13,724 agents, followed by Asia Insurance Company.
CII data shows that Pasargad accounted for 73.5% of the life insurance agents during the period with 39,200 active agents.
Insurance companies had 1,395 active branches – 0.8% higher on the same period the year before. Unsurprisingly, Iran Insurance Company had 214 branches or 15.3% of the total.
Asia Insurance Company and Pasargad Insurance were next with 111 and 88 branches, respectively.
CII said most branches were based in Tehran Province (16.9%), followed by the northern province of Mazandaran 5.7% and East Azarbaijan and Isfahan 4.9%.
The total number of brokers also increased 2.7% to 1,111 and the number of loss assessors jumped 81.5% to more than 1,964 by March. Nearly 32.6% of loss assessors were also based in the sprawling capital and its suburbs.
Growth in the key sector comes amid the monumental challenges created by the Covid-19, which clobbered most business including the insurance sector. The growing interest in online insurance services along with the regulator’s insistence on promoting digitalization were also two key factors that apparently had a negative impact on the business of insurance agents.
As the industry gradually moves to innovate, the CII in May 2020 instructed insurers to transfer the process of sale, renewal, and claims of personal auto policies to a special online platform.
Companies are required to provide agents and representatives access to online platforms to support their business. The growth of insurance startups is seen as another major hurdle in the way of insurance companies' sales network.
Insurance companies generated 115 trillion rials ($4.11 billion) in premium income last year, posting 41% y/y growth.
Total payout amounted to 64.95 trillion rials ($2.13 billion) -- up 48% from the year before. Third party vehicle insurance accounted for 35% of the total payout reaching 23.1 trillion rials ($825m), up 31%.
Expanded Field
Inn recent years the insurance industry has been more appealing to investors. The regulatory body says it has received several proposals for new insurance, life insurance and reinsurance companies.
So far 34 insurance companies operate in Iran including offshore firms and reinsurance companies. This is likely to reach 46 with the regulator saying that 12 are ready to enter the market, including two new life insurance companies Karizma Life Insurance and Hamerz Life Insurance; three reinsurance companies, Pars Reinsurance, Tehran Reinsurance and Raya Reinsurance; and two general insurance firms, Pardis Insurance and Farda Insurance.
The regulator is expected to issue ‘permission in principle’ for five other firms, namely Etemad Insurance, Bamdad Insurance, Soroush Insurance, Persian Reinsurance, and Isatis Life Insurance.
