Insurers' Premium Income Hits $6b

Insurers' total premium income reached 229 trillion rials ($6 billion) in the Iranian year ending March 2016 to register a 75% increase compared with the same time three years ago, said the head of Central Insurance of Iran’s Department for Planning and Development.

"Following the policies of President Hassan Rouhani's administration, insurance penetration rate has reached 2.1% to mark a 0.4% grow during the first three years of this administration (2013 -16) and it will continue to rise by the end of next year," Hassan Reza Abbasianfar was also quoted as saying by Banker.ir.

"Life insurance accounted for about 12.1% of the premiums earned by March 2016, marking a growth of 55% from three years ago. The figure grew by 1.3%, 1.7% and 1.4% in the first three years of the tenure of Rouhani administration respectively. The figure inched up by 1% during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (March 20 to November 21, 2016)."     

The Central Insurance of Iran has been working on plans to promote life insurance, requiring insurers to separate life insurance reserves from other categories and raise public awareness about the advantages of life insurance policies.

Abbasianfar noted that during the life of this administration, three new general insurance firms have joined the industry and a fourth is in the formation process.

"This new and fourth insurance firm will be specifically working on life insurance category," he said.

Lawmakers have obligated CII, the industry’s regulator, to take measures for increasing the insurance penetration rate to 7% by the end of the sixth five-year development plan (2017-22).  

The Majlis also tasked CII with boosting the share of life insurance to at least 50% of the industry’s total premium income.

The plan urges CII to introduce new insurance categories to cover risks in production and trade sectors.

The regulating body has called for the establishment of specialized insurance firms.

Abdolnasser Hemmati, CII director, had announced earlier that regulators will no longer issue licenses for general insurance firms.