Friday, October 14 2011 18:27
INGO Armenia: Share of insurance in GDP may reach 12% in Armenia
ArmInfo. The share of insurance premiums in GDP may reach 12% within 7-8 years without any additional burden on the budgets of the Armenian families and with protection of their interests, Executive Director of INGO Armenia Levon Altunyan said in a press conference dedicated to the 14th anniversary of the company, Friday. He said that the insurance market is not big in Armenia and the share of premiums in the GDP structure is extremely low - some 1.75% versus 0.2% in 1997-99. "The growth is insignificant, but is natural since the law on MTPL (OSAGO) was adopted in early 2011," he said.
The insurer said that in Armenia nearly 20%-28% of the gross domestic product is spent on liquidation of disaster aftermaths, force-majeur situations and other inherently insurance events. He is sure that almost half of the given amount can be redistributed via the insurance system. Such an approach in the insurance market is real within 7-8 years and will much depend on the political will, Altunyan said. Over that period of time, he said, 4 laws on insurance must be adopted in the country: the law on compulsory medical insurance, on liability insurance of especially hazardous enterprises and insurance of environment risks.
As for the state of the local insurance market, Altunyan said that the actors are highly professional in the market, which is the result of the efficient legislative base developed by the Central Bank, first of all. "Insurance legislation in Armenia is one of the most developed ones in the CIS and even as compared with such a big market as the Russian," he said.
Altunyan highlighted that INGO Armenia has grown to a solid financial structure employing 147 specialists. The agent network of the company comprises nearly 1700 people. INGO ARMENIA Insurance Company is a full member of INGO International Insurance Group. A potential customer of the company can use the service of delivery of compulsory motor third party liability insurance (MTL) policies, and order the policy by phone, e-mail and via payment terminals. Company has a license for 13 classes of non-life insurance. It serves 14 branches in the regions and in Yerevan. INGO Armenia entered the market in 1997
The Armenian insurance market encompasses 8 companies. Ranking of the Armenian Insurance Companies prepared by the Agency of Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo) says the insurance premiums of the market for the first half of 2011 totaled 14 billion drams. The corporate insurance and retail insurance made up 27.4% and 72.6%, respectively. Net profit of the insurance companies for the first half of 2011 totaled 1.981 mln drams or $5.2 mln. The companies suffered 38.042 mln drams loss for the first half of 2010. Net profit of the companies for the Q2 2011 totaled 802.9 mln drams with over 3fold annual growth.