The Competition Council has dismissed complaints by online insurers and ruled in favor of the Central Insurance company of Iran (CII) in introducing Amitis as the only gateway connecting insurance companies with online brokers and other service-providing startups.
The CII mandated online brokers to access their insurance service through the insurance switch using their insurance APIs. Implementation of this project was assigned to Rahbord Negar Amitis Company, in which the CII holds a majority stake, granting it full authority to provide the services.
An API gateway is a management tool that sits between a client and a collection of backend services. It functions as a reverse proxy to accept all application programming interface (API) calls, aggregate services required to fulfill them and return the appropriate result.
However, insurance companies have protested to the extent that three major online insurance brokerage companies, with a substantial share in online insurance sales, filed complaints with the National Competition Council in July of last year. The three companies believe that the provision of exclusive API services is a clear case of monopolization.
However, after more than ten months, the Competition Council has ruled in favor of the CII, stating that the launch of Amitis is limited to establishing a communication network and will not result in a monopoly, way2pay website reported.
According to the council’s ruling, the obligation of insurance companies to use the insurance switch for online sales, used by online brokers to access insurance sales services, is in line with the CII supervisory mandate.
The council, which introduced the switch as a platform to facilitate entry into the insurance industry, stated: "The CII’s move in implementing the insurance switch system to monitor insurance activities by establishing a communication network linking the CII, insurance companies, and official online insurance brokers for sharing information is in line with the organization's duties and authority as per law.”
This means that the insurance switch handles the issuance of insurance policies and collection of premium by insurance companies or their representatives, while online marketing and sales for insurance companies or their agents are carried out by online brokers.
The CII, as the supervisory authority is responsible for regulating and oversight, and therefore its actions in establishing the switch communication do not have any inherent connection with insurance operations and policy issuance.
Information Protection
Another issue raised in by the complainants was the selection of Rahbord Negar Amitis as the executor of the insurance switch. The Competition Council noted that the CII’s SANHAB is an important system according to security institutions. Thus, it is necessary to ensure the rights of policyholders, insurance companies and other stakeholders in the sector plus safeguard confidential information in the IT infrastructure of the CII.
There has been a long dispute between the insurance regulator and online insurance companies, known as online brokers, over the role of the gateway for online insurance.
Last June, the CII ordered all startups to work only with Amitis without contacting insurance companies or brokers. Startups protested saying that that was in breach of acceptable competition norms.
Startups accused the CII of trying to create a “market monopoly over all transactions made by online insurers and setting up a quasi-private company”.
Local media outlets reported later that the CII admitted that there are fundamental differences in the business models of online and traditional brokers/agents and promised to rewrite regulations related to the gateway in a way that it supports new businesses.
Hundreds of startups and knowledge-based companies have opened in Iran and some offer 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.
As per insurance regulations, startups are required to get an online broker license from the CII. So far there are 60 licensed online brokers and the CII has reportedly received some 100 applications for new licenses.
