Azerbaijan, Baku, July 23 / Trend A. Akhundov /
It is possible that the fees on life insurance in Azerbaijan will amount to the fees for other types of insurance for the next five years, chairman of Atesgah Heyat's board Akbar Madatli said.
At present, there are three life insurance companies in Azerbaijan having licenses - Atesgah Heyat, Qala Heyat and Pasa Heyat.
"We follow the same trend," he said. "I think that the situation will be similar in Azerbaijan."
The total amount of premiums for voluntary life insurance amounted to 1.52 million manat. The Azerbaijani insurance companies' premium for compulsory insurance and disability, resulting from occupational diseases and accidents at work, was 12.938 million manat in the first half of 2011.
The potential market for compulsory insurance is estimated at about 30 million manat. The existing three companies have covered almost half of the market in six months.
However, there was a sharp slowdown in fees for compulsory insurance against accidents in June.
June fees exceeded that of January-May by 8.35 percent, while fees in May increased by 37.12 percent compared to January-April. In April fees rose by 46.13 percent compared to January-March. In March the figure exceeded threefold compared to January and February.
The use of the labor insurance service began in December 2010 with about 14,000 enterprises insuring workers.
According to the recent reports, Atesgah Heyat's customers were more than 6,000 enterprises, Qala Heyat - about 7,500, Pasa Heyat - 300.
Despite the fact that Pasa Heyat is behind most life-insurance companies in terms of clientele, legal entities are insured with compulsory insurance against disability in the workplace. In terms of fees, the company is a leader in the Azerbaijani insurance market.
According to the State Insurance Supervision Service under the Azerbaijani Ministry of Finance, Pasa Heyat collected premiums amounting to 6.218 million manat in the first half of the year, taking 43 percent of the life insurance market and 6.33 percent of the total insurance market in the country. Atesgah Heyat Company collected 4.613 million manat. About 31.9 and 4.69 percent fall to the company. Qala Heyat collected 3.542 million manat. About 24.5 and 3.6 percent fall to this company.
About 0.6 percent of the life insurance market (worth about 85,000 manat) is given to portfolios of life-insurance companies which provide similar services before a three-year moratorium expires in late March this year. The company indicates that only specialized companies deal with life insurance.
The chairman of Atesgah Həyat company Akbar Madatli said that three companies will cover no more than 70 percent of the potential market of compulsory life insurance by late 2011.
At present, the State Insurance Supervision Service is considering appeals for establishing a life insurance company. The appeals were received from AzSıgorta, Alfa Sıgorta, Ata Sıgorta, and Standard Insurance. The International Insurance Company and "Azerbaycan Senaye Sıgorta" have similar plans.