Iran Insurance Report Q1 2012

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 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.
As of December 2011, the data published by Bimeh Markazi indicates that total premiums rose by 27% in Iranian year 1389, which we have shown as 2010. This is a lot more than the 15% or so increase which had been indicated by other sources through Q311. The implication is that non-life penetration has risen decisively above the level at which 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. 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.

[Studien Infos ausblenden]

Executive Summary 5
Table: Iran’s Total Premiums 2008-2016 5
Key Insights And Key Risks 6
Key Insights And Key Risks 6
SWOT Analysis 7
Iran Insurance Industry SWOT 7
Iran Political SWOT 8
Iran Economic SWOT 9
Iran Business Environment SWOT 10
Life Sector 11
Middle East Life Sector Overview 11
Table: Middle East And Africa Life Premiums, 2008-2016 (US$mn) 11
Iran Life Sector Update 13
Life Insurance Industry Forecast Scenario 14
Table: Iran’s Total Life Premiums 2008-2016 14
Growth Drivers And Risk Management Projections 15
Population 15
Table: Insurance Key Drivers, Demographics 2008-2016 15
Non-Life Sector 18
Middle East Non-Life Sector Overview 18
Table: Middle East And Africa Non-Life Premiums, 2008-2016 (US$mn) 18
Iran Non-Life Sector 21
Table: Breakdown Of Gross Written Premiums, 2009-2010 (IRRmn) 21
Table: Breakdown Of Earned Premiums, 2009-2010 (IRRmn) 22
Table: Retention Ratios, 2009-2010 (net premiums as % of gross premiums) 23
Non-Life Insurance Industry Forecast Scenario 25
Table: Iran’s Total Non-Life Premiums, 2008-2016 25
Growth Drivers And Risk Management Projections 26
Macroeconomic Outlook 26
Table: Iran Economic Activity, 2011-2016 28
Political Stability Outlook 29
Table: Middle East And Africa Defence And Security Ratings 31
Healthcare Sector 31
Health Insurance 32
Epidemiology 33
Table: Iran’s Insurance Key Drivers, DALYs 2008-2016 34
Motor 36
Islamic Finance 37
Insurance Risk/Reward Ratings 38
Table: Middle East and Africa Insurance Risk/Reward Ratings 38
Competitive Landscape 40
Competitive Landscape Analysis 40
Major Players In Iran’s Insurance Sector 41
Table: Direct Premiums And Direct Loss, 2006-2010 42
Table: Total Premiums Growth, 2006-2010 42
Table: Number Of Insurance Companies And Employees, 2006-2007 43
Table: Number Of Branches, Agents And Brokers, 2006-2010 43
Company Profiles 44
Local Company Profiles 44
Bimeh Alborz 44
Bimeh Asia 45
Bimeh Dana 46
Bimeh Iran 47
Parsian Insurance 49
Regional Company Profiles 51
Allianz 51
Arab Insurance Group (ARIG) 53
Aviva 55
AXA 56
Chartis 57
Generali 59
HSBC Insurance 60
MAPFRE 61
MetLife ALICO 63
RSA 65
Zurich Financial Services 67
BMI Methodology 69
Insurance Risk/Reward Ratings 71
Table: Insurance Risk/Reward Indicators And Rationale 71
Table: Weighting Of Indicators 73
[Inhaltsverzeichnis ausblenden]