The Iran Fintech Association, a private society supporting fintech startups, has strongly criticized the Central Insurance company of Iran (CII) for promoting monopoly in the online insurance market.
In a letter, the Fintech Association referred to the establishment of the quasi-private company, Amitis, for handling all the transactions by online insurance companies and warned the regulator about the immediate impact of market monopolies, Risknews reported.
"The so-called private company is owned by the CII and its office is located in one of the buildings owned by the regulatory body…The CII has forced all startups to work only with Amitis, without contacting insurance companies or brokers," the letter noted.
“Gateways developed by the company have failed to take into account the basics of designing digital products and are highly insecure.”
The association added that the move is in breach of competition norms and called on the top body to reverse its controversial move and form a workgroup with experts and market players to be able to make informed judgments.
The CII has stopped issuing new operating license for online insurance brokers “until further notice”.
According to Way2pay, the CII has declined licenses for applicants that had completed the cumbersome paperwork and were about to receive permits.
Observers believe that the licensing policy has been suspended mainly because the CII wants to remove deficiencies of the online sales platform, especially of the gateways.
Hundreds of startups and knowledge-based companies have opened in Iran with some offering insurance services. They account for almost 96% of the total online sales and are recognized as knowledge enterprises by the government with an estimated 5-trillion-rial investment.
Majid Behzadpur, the newly-appointed CII chief, recently said that a special office has been set up by the CII to support insurtech startups.
