Azerbaijan, Baku, April 13 / Trend U. Ismayilova /
Life insurance is not practically developed in Azerbaijan today. But it is quite promising segment. It can be one of the most popular in the nearest years. It could lead to a manyfold increase in the volume of insurance premiums market in general, the only Azerbaijani Insurance Company dealing with life insurance Atesgah Heyat chairwoman of board Ayten Huseynova said in an interview with "BusinessTime".
"The prerequisites for this are the new legislative base, economic growth and improving the welfare of the population, cultural traditions", Huseynova said.
She said that it is important that the products of life insurance can cover all segments of the population of different age categories. There are several factors that hamper the development of this rather complicated, but very interesting and socially important trend. First - this is the memory of the former Soviet history of life insurance in the territory of the former USSR, which was not successful for everybody. However, it is possible to say with certainty that public confidence in financial institutions is gradually returning. We can cite an example of the active development of the banking sector, Huseynova said. Secondly, the lack of insurance culture and sufficient information about insurance.
The main purpose of Atesgah Heyat company is to develop retail market together with corporate sales. The company actively participates in public life to achieve this goal. It gradually develops in the region, conducts market research to determine demand and develop insurance products complying with the requirements of potential insurers, Huseynova said.
JSC Atesgah Heyat Sigorta Sirketi was established in early 2008. The only founder of the company is the insurance company Ateshgah Sigorta Sirketi, whose shareholders are ISR Holding Ltd, SOCAR and RAN-Eksim.
The company's assets as a result of 2009 totaled 2.25 million manat and increased by 79.22 percent during a year. The authorized capital amounted to 1,3 million manat. Revenue for last year amounted to 1,12 million manat, expenses - 224.950 manat. Financial profit amounted to 899.040 manat last year.
On April 12, the official exchange rate is 0.8035 manat to $1.