Pointing to a world average of 7% capital turnover in the insurance industry, Morteza Bank, a high-ranking official in President Hassan Rouhani’s office said the figure in Iran is a paltry 2%.
“To be able to catch up with the international world insurance industry asset turnover rate, effective measures are necessary,” he said during a visit to the Ma Insurance company Wednesday, IRNA reported.
Defining skilled labor as the principal asset of any organization, Bank said, “Iran is a country destined to embark on the journey of development.”
“To start such a journey we should have a comprehensive grasp of the issues that need to be addressed, one of which certainly is the insurance industry.”
He added that the insurance industry in Iran has been on the move for more than two decades, but the development process in the world has moved at a much faster pace while the insurance industry has vividly secured a high pedestal for itself in the world economy.
“Iran’s insurance industry has to strive to make up for lost time despite the fact that it is facing huge problems at the macroeconomic level. Iran’s economy is moving in a direction that makes the insurance industry’s active role inevitable”
Elaborating the reasons for insurance industry’s poor performance in Iran, he said two major factors are responsible. “Lack of diversity and absence of strong competition are the reasons why the insurance industry is underdeveloped.”
These and other problems have deprived the insurance industry of the ability to provide entrepreneurs with new ideas and innovations.
He criticized rigid state controls as one of the predicaments of the national economy. “Our economy has not been able to reach the standards of a free economy with a robust private sector. We have yet to turn the inflationary state-dominated economy into a dynamic free market economy.”
Collaboration with international insurance companies and utilizing their experience and know-how can help improve the performance of the insurance industry, the senior official was quoted as saying.
