ArmInfo. Armenia already has preconditions for introducing life assurance, Director of Institute of Economics and Business at the RAU, former Ministr of Economy, Dr. (Economics), Professor Edward Sandoyan told ArmInfo's correspondent.
The professor noted that implementation of the life assurance mechanisms demands higher level of capitalization of the Armenian companies, which in turn presupposes a higher profitability of business and shareholders' and investors' interest in leverage in higher capital. "Time is needed for this, as the market capacity is still very small and estimated profits and revenues are not enough for high indicators of the capital", Sandoyan mentioned.
According to him, the time is ripe for considering to increase the number of compulsory types of insurance, for example to implement compulsory health insurance and compulsory property insurance. 3 to 5 years are needed for implementation of compulsory health insurance, however the sooner institutes of compulsory insurance are implemented in the country, the more the market will gain.
The Armenian insurance companies are providing insurance lines not falling into the category of life assurance. Within the Armenian laws, a company has no right to provide non-life insurance and life
assurance simultaneously. Accident insurance and health insurance are so for the only insurance lines that are certainly related to the life assurance. The only compulsory insurance line in the Armenian
market is MTPL. The market encompasses four companies: Rosgosstrakh- Armenia, INGO Armenia, RESO, Nairi Insurance, Armenia Insurance, Sil Insurance.
According to ArmInfo's Ranking of Insurance Companies, the local insurance companies collected 2,7bln drams health insurance premiums for 6 months of 2015, which accounts for 16.7% of total (a 41.7% growth year over year). Accident insurance premiums totaled 271.4mln drams or 1.7% of total (down 1.3%). Health insurance indemnities totaled 1.5bln drams (23.6% of total), with a 43.2% decline year over year. Accident insurance indemnities totaled 47.1mln drams (0.7% of total), with a 15.5% growth year over year. Insurance companies received 1.5bln drams profits in total for 6 months of 2015 (12.5% growth year over year).