BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 22
By Yusif Aghayev – Trend:
The insurance sector of Azerbaijan is ready for strict quarantine regime, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Azerbaijan Insurers Association (AIA) Azer Aliyev told Trend.
“Over the time that has passed since the introduction of a special quarantine regime in Azerbaijan in April, when the activities of many organizations and enterprises were suspended, as well as restrictions on the exit of citizens from home, large domestic insurance companies, which account for 80 percent of all collected premiums in the market, carried out a number of necessary measures to transfer customer service online,” said Aliyev.
"During implementation of these measures, the recommendations developed by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), were taken into account. The IT platforms of many companies were used to prolong existing insurance contracts and to execute new insurance contracts digitally, without any need to visit the offices," the chairman noted.
“In addition to the above, some companies have developed and implemented the mechanism for regulating insurance claims online," Aliyev said.
Despite the annual decrease in premiums for most types of insurance in April 2020, the entire market grew by 10 percent due to a substantial growth in the life insurance segment, mainly on cumulative life insurance and on compulsory insurance against disability as a result of industrial accidents and occupational diseases.
“I don’t expect any special fluctuations in the market due to the strengthening of the quarantine regime from June 21 to July 5, 2020. On the other hand, due to introduction of restrictive measures, a loss reduction is possible,” chairman of the AIA Supervisory Board noted.
“Besides the foregoing, this will have a positive effect on insurers’ profits, since they will not have to form large reserves when insurance premiums are reduced, while as the insurance contracts concluded last year expire, the reserves formed for them will be released and counted as profit,” noted Aliyev.
From 00:00 (GMT+4) on June 21 to 06:00 on July 5, restrictive measures were introduced due to the tightening of the special quarantine regime in Azerbaijan’s Baku, Sumgayit, Ganja, Lankaran, Yevlakh, Masalli, Jalilabad and Absheron region. Accordingly, the activities of certain organizations and enterprises have been suspended, restrictions have been introduced on the exit of citizens from homes and places of permanent residence.
In April 2020, the Azerbaijani insurers collected insurance premiums worth over 70.5 million manat ($41.4 million), which is 6.4 million manat ($3.7 million) or 10 percent more compared to the month of 2019.
Presently, 21 insurance companies and one reinsurance company operate in Azerbaijan.
(1 USD = 1.7 manat on June 22)