Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 3
By Abbas Akhundov - Trend:
Azerbaijani insurance company 'Azerbaycan Senaye Sıgorta' intends to obtain a licence for reinsurance activities, the deputy chairman of the company, Intigam Seyfulla told Trend on Jan. 31.
According to the amendments made to Azerbaijan's insurance legislation in late 2013, insurers will now need to obtain a separate licence for conducting reinsurance operations.
Starting from March 1, 2014, the capital of those insurance companies wishing to obtain a licence for reinsurance activities should exceed the minimum requirements for insurance companies. Currently as of today, the requirement is five million manats by 2.5 million manats and starting from January 1, 2015, by five million manats, according to a draft decision of the Azerbaijani Finance Ministry.
The company's deputy chairman said that if the project is approved, Azerbaycan Senaye Sıgorta will not need to raise its capital to obtain a licence for reinsurance, as its capital is already at the level of 8.16 million manats.
He went on to add that the reinsurance operations constituted five percent of all collections last year.
In 2013 the company collected premiums worth 12.37 million manats, according to the State Insurance Supervision Service of Azerbaijani Finance Ministry.
This year the company expects collections at a level higher than last year's figure.
"This year, we intend to develop our work with voluntary insurance types. Today the ratio of voluntary and mandatory types in our portfolio is 45 to 55. The main voluntary types in our portfolio are the insurance of freight, property types and medical insurance," Seyfulla said.
Azerbaycan Senaye Sıgorta was established by the Azerbaycan Senaye Banki in December 1996 and is a member of Azersun Holding Group of Companies. In 2010, the bank transferred half its shares to the Azerbaijani company Anadolu Investments.
Anadolu Investments is affiliated to the Turkish company Anadolu Cam Investment which specialises in the production of canned products. Anadolu Investments owns 97 percent of Azerbaycan Senaye Banki.
Official exchange rate on Feb. 3 is 0.7843 AZN/USD
Translated by E.A.
Edited by S.M.