Iran Insurance Report Q2 2012 Published : April 2012
No. of Pages : 69
Price:US$1175
As of early 2012, the data published by Bimeh Markazi Iran, the insurance regulator, suggests that total premiums increased by 27% in Iranian year 1389, which ended in March 2011 (please note this year is shown as 2010 in the tables in this report). This was a lot more than the growth of 15% or so that we, and other commentators had been looking for. The implication is that non-life penetration has risen decisively above the level at which it had stagnated in 2005-10, specifically 1.1-1.2% of GDP. In the coming months, we will be looking for further details as to what are the key drivers of this growth. It is not impossible that the major insurers have been able to increase prices. We would be amazed, though, if it is significantly because of developments in Iran’s miniscule life insurance sector. One of the defining characteristics of the economy is entrenched high inflation (and expectations) thanks to persistent monetisation of fiscal deficits. This produces an environment in which no prudent person would enter into a long-term savings contract. Unless and until economic policies in Iran change radically, the reality of the insurance sector will fall a long way short of its potential.Iran’s insurance sector has a number of strengths, including scale in terms of gross written premiums per annum. Bimeh Iran, the largest company that is a state-owned enterprise, is one of the largest underwriters in the Middle East and would rate as a reasonably large insurer in most countries. Non-life penetration has, as noted above, consistently remained slightly above 1% of GDP. Among other things, this suggests the regulatory regime is reasonably sound. Iran’s insurers have managed to survive in the face of various challenges – not least of which is the almost complete lack of access to the global reinsurance markets. Unlike in other Middle Eastern countries, Iran’s insurance sector does not consist of a surprisingly large number of sub-scale non-life companies that are offshoots of local business interests that do not have a clear edge in the industry. The sector is undergoing ‘privatisation’, via listings of companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange, and ‘liberalisation’, in that the decisions over products and pricing are moving from Bimeh Markazi Iran (the regulator and, to a certain extent, provider of reinsurance service) to the insurers themselves. However, in contrast to privatisation in other countries, the deals in Iran are not necessarily reducing government control and are certainly not increasing formerly state-owned companies’ access to capital. The limited data that is available suggests the main impact of ‘liberalisation’ is to transfer resources from shareholders of private sector companies (including the recently ‘privatised’ Bimeh Alborz, Bimeh Asia and Bimeh Dana) to the still state-controlled Bimeh Iran, employees and, to a certain extent, insurance customers. Iran Insurance Industry-Q2 2012 Table Of contents Executive Summary Table: Total Premiums, 2009-2016 Key Insights And Key Risks SWOT Analysis Iran Insurance Industry SWOT Iran Political SWOT Iran Economic SWOT Iran Business Environment SWOT Life Sector Middle East Life Sector Overview
Table: Middle East And Africa Life Premiums, 2008-2016 (US$mn) Iran Life Sector Update Life Insurance Industry Forecast Scenario Table: Total Life Premiums, 2009-2016 Growth Drivers And Risk Management Projections Population Table: Insurance Key Drivers, Demographics, 2009-2016 Non-Life Sector Middle East Non-Life Sector Overview Table: Middle East And Africa Non-Life Premiums, 2008-2016 (US$mn) Iran Non-Life Sector Table: Breakdown Of Gross Written Premiums, 2009-2010 (IRRmn) Table: Breakdown Of Earned Premiums, 2009-2010 (IRRmn) Table: Retention Ratios, 2009-2010 (net premiums as % of gross premiums) Non-Life Insurance Industry Forecast Scenario Table: Total Non-Life Premiums 2009-2016 Growth Drivers And Risk Management Projections Macroeconomic Outlook Table: Iran Economic Activity, 2011-2016 Political Stability Outlook Table: Middle East And Africa Defence And Security Ratings Healthcare Health Insurance Epidemiology Table: Insurance Key Drivers, Disability-Adjusted Life Years, 2009-2016 Motor Table: Insurance Key Drivers, Vehicle Production And Sales, 2009-2016 Islamic Finance Insurance Risk/Reward Ratings Table: Iran’s Insurance Risk/Reward Ratings Table: Middle East And Africa Insurance Risk/Reward Ratings Competitive Landscape Competitive Landscape Analysis Major Players In Iran’s Insurance Sector Table: Direct Premiums And Direct Loss, 2006-2010 Table: Total Premiums Growth, 2006-2010 Table: Number Of Insurance Companies And Employees, 2006-2007 Table: Number Of Branches, Agents And Brokers, 2006-2010 Company Profiles Local Company Profiles Bimeh Alborz Bimeh Asia Bimeh Dana Bimeh Iran Parsian Insurance Regional Company Profiles Allianz Arab Insurance Group (ARIG) Aviva AXA Chartis Generali MAPFRE MetLife ALICO Zurich Financial Services BMI Methodology
Insurance Risk/Reward Ratings