Baku, Azerbaijan, May 11
By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
There is no need to raise tariffs on voluntary types of insurance in Azerbaijan, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Insurers Association (AIA) Mustafa Abbasbeyli told Trend.
"Changing tariffs for voluntary types of insurance is the authority of the insurance companies themselves. They can increase and decrease them. To date, I believe that there is no need to increase tariffs. Voluntary types of insurance, albeit slowly, are developing, as exemplified by voluntary car insurance. Yes, against the background of two devaluations, the expenditures of insurance companies on spare parts and other services have increased, but the tariffs have not increased. This increases loss ratio of the companies, but they can not settle for a sharp rise in tariffs, as the people are not ready for this," said Abbasbeyli.
Commenting on the high loss ratio in voluntary types of insurance, the head of AIA noted that companies need to expand the coverage of insurance products of this type.
"The types of insurance which are not widespread are the most unprofitable ones. We all know that the basic principle of insurance is scale. If it is not available, then any type of insurance becomes unprofitable. Therefore, I believe that it is necessary to expand the coverage of the insured persons. The larger the coverage, the less the loss will be," Abbasbeyli said.
According to the data of Financial Market Supervisory Authority of Azerbaijan, fees for voluntary types of insurance at the end of 1Q2018 amounted to 157.06 million manats or 81.3 percent of the total insurance fees. Around 73.7 percent of total insurance payouts - 44.44 million manats also fall to share of voluntary insurance.
Compared to the same period in 2017, voluntary insurance fees increased by 40.3 percent and insurance payouts decreased by 6.1 percent.
The official exchange rate for May 11 is 1.7 AZN / USD.
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