Azerbaijan, Baku, July 22/ Trend, A.Akhundov /
Azerbaijani insurance company AzSıgorta, which plans to create an independent life insurance company and therefore appealed to the State Insurance Supervision Service of the Finance Ministry hopes to cover 5-10 percent of this market, the company's board chairman Abbas Babayev said.
"It is difficult to make forecasts, since it is unknown how many players will be in the market and what its volume will be. However, with the growing number of companies, we plan to cover 5-10 percent of the market," Babayev said.
At present, there are three life insurance companies that are licensed to provide such services. They are: Atesgah Heyat, Qala Heyat and Pasa Heyat.
Now the State Insurance Supervision Service considers appeals on creating life insurance companies received from AzSıgorta, Alfa Sıgorta, Ata Sıgorta and Standard Insurance. The International Insurance Company and Azerbaycan Senaye Sıgorta have similar plans.
The total amount of premiums for voluntary life insurance amounted to 1.52 million manat in the first half-year. 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. That is, today the share of compulsory insurance in life insurance has reached 90 percent.
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.
Babayev said compulsory life insurance types will be prospective for the new company.
"At present, the main share of premiums on life insurance accounts for compulsory insurance types, however, voluntary types are also developing. The future is in voluntary life insurance, therefore, we see perspective there," he said.
Babayev said the company is created with a authorized capital of five million manat, which corresponds to the minimum requirement. The only founder of the company is the AzSıgorta insurance company.
AzSıgorta was founded in November 2006. The company's employs are over 180 persons. It provides services on 32 voluntary and five types of compulsory insurance.
The official exchange rate is 0.7865 manat to $1 on July 22.