...

Fitch downgrades Azerbaijani insurance company’s IFS

Business Materials 22 December 2016 18:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 22

By Azad Hasanli – Trend:

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Azerbaijan’s AzInsurance OJSC's Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) rating to 'B' from 'B+'. The Outlook is Stable.

The downgrade reflects AzInsurance's weakened business profile and Fitch's expectations that this will not recover significantly in 2017. The downgrade also reflects the company's sharply lower operating profitability in 9M16.

In 9M16, AzInsurance's total gross written premiums (GWP) decreased by 34 percent compared with 9M15. The company faced a double-digit contraction in GWP in the most profitable line in its portfolio, cargo, with the share of cargo insurance plummeting to 4 percent of the portfolio in 9M16 from 28 percent in 9M15.

According to Fitch, cash and bank deposits with sister company AFB Bank ASC accounted for 37 percent of the insurer's investments at end-9M15 (end-2015: 51 percent).

AzInsurance has been working on the Azerbaijani insurance market since 2006. It has branches and representative offices in many districts of the country, namely, Sumgait, Ganja, Lankaran, Shirvan, Sheki, Gabala, Tartar, Yevlakh and Shamakhi.

(1.7575 manats = $1 on Dec. 22)

Tags:
Latest

Latest