Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 3
By Kamala Mammadli - Trend:
From January to September 2019, the premiums of Azerbaijan’s Ata Insurance company for mandatory real estate insurance amounted to 176,957 manats, which is 7.6 percent (or 12,495 manats) more than in the same period last year, Fariz Hajizade, director of the Insurance Services Department of Ata Insurance company, told Trend.
For the nine months of 2018, this figure amounted to 164,462 manats, he said.
He noted that the recent events, namely fires at major real estate objects, in shopping centers and residential buildings, have led to an increase in interest in insurance in this area. However, there is a slight increase in the insurance of residential buildings, apartments, he said.
“I believe that there should be a mechanism in accordance with which owners of uninsured apartments must pay a fine,” he noted. “With this mechanism, the share of insured apartments in Baku may reach 70-80 percent.”
He said that a very small part of apartments are insured in Baku, although according to the law, all of them must be insured.
“The situation in mandatory motor vehicle insurance is different, a penalty mechanism that is monitored by radars installed on the roads is applied there,” he noted. “The cost of the fine is 50 manats. Therefore, car owners have to insure their vehicles.”
He said that if such a mechanism is applied in the field of mandatory real estate insurance, the market condition will improve. Insurance companies will increase their premiums, which in turn will have a positive impact on Azerbaijan’s economy, he noted.
“I think that the work is underway to solve this problem,” Hajizade said.
The company is working to promote products in the field of mandatory real estate insurance, he noted.
“In Baku, as well as in the regions, meetings are held with entrepreneurs for the implementation of mandatory real estate insurance,” he added.
($1= 1.7 manats on Oct. 3)
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