Quality of Insurance Services Reflects Actions of Government Agencies - Expert

Baku / 23.08.17 / Turan: Of all kinds of insurance in Azerbaijan, the most fees come from insurance of civil liability of transport owners, Mustafa Abbasbeyli, insurance expert, said in an interview to the Difficult Question program of Turan News Agency.

According to him, about 1 million cars are registered in the country and 80-90% of these vehicles are covered by this type of insurance. We are talking about insurance fees for about 100 million manats a year.

In the second place there is health insurance. In this type of insurance annual fees are 60 million manats.

This is followed by real estate insurance, hull insurance, etc.

The volume of insurance market in the country amounts to 500 million manats. Taking into account the population of 10 million people and the ratio to GDP, the country's insurance market is not large. However, it annually grows by 10-15%.

With this in mind, as well as with the expansion of compulsory health insurance in the next few years, the insurance market may increase to 1 billion manats.

In general, the development of the insurance market is associated with the level of economic development. If the economy strengthens, the insurance market will develop accordingly.

How much does the population trust in insurance companies, taking into account the facts of discontent of the population by understating the sums of insurance payments or evading them?

Answering this question, the expert said such facts take place, and for that there are objective and subjective reasons, but their number is decreasing.

Abbasbeyli believes that insurance companies, especially large ones, try to maintain a high level of service. However, in a number of cases, concerning the insurance of cars, companies depend on the state bodies, i.e. the Ministry for Emergency Situations and the Traffic Police. Delays in the issuance of relevant documents affect the services provided by insurance companies.

The expert does not agree with the popular opinion about the low amount of insurance payments for damage to cars in accidents. The insurance company pays a maximum of 5,000 manats. However, for damage to health as a result of an accident, it is also envisaged to pay up to 5,000 manats. In total insurance company can pay up to 55 thousand manats.

If the insurance payment does not pay the damage, then the rest of the money for compensation is recovered from the person, who caused the damage, in the civil law.

Are there any monopolies in the insurance market? Abbasbeyli gave a negative answer.

However, some types of insurance services are provided by state insurance institutions. In particular, life insurance of servicemen is carried out by a state company and this weakens competition.

Besides, 3 out of 22 companies are engaged in life insurance. However, gradually this type of insurance is developed and the legislation provides tax privileges for this.

Do foreign companies trust Azerbaijani insurers?

Abbasbeyli said that at one time, foreign companies operating in Azerbaijan were oriented to foreign insurance institutions. Now, the situation is different. Under the law, a subject of insurance must be insured in Azerbaijan and after that it can be reinsured abroad.

In fact, many foreign companies consider insurance in Azerbaijani companies sufficient. -06D-