2013-02-27 03:13:36 - New Financial Services research report from Business Monitor International is now available from Fast Market Research

The Iran Insurance Report considers the prospects for both life and non-life insurers in the country. As of late 2012, the latest data published by Bimeh Markazi Iran, the insurance regulator, suggest that total premiums continued to develop strongly in Iranian year 1390, which ended in March 2012 (please note this year is shown as 2011 in the tables in this report). We think that the key factors have been higher (real) prices in just two lines - Compulsory Motorists Third Party Liability, and health insurance. We are not convinced, though, that this is evidence of a definitive change for the better in the non-life segment or in the insurance sector as a whole.

In spite of the strong growth in

life premiums in the year to March 2012, we remain of the view that the segment is expanding from a very low base and is still in an embryonic state of development. 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 economic policies in Iran change radically, the reality of the insurance sector will fall a long way short of its potential.


Full Report Details at
- www.fastmr.com/prod/541223_iran_insurance_report_q1_2013.aspx


Iran's insurance sector has a number of strengths, including scale in terms of gross written premiums per annum. Bimeh Iran, the largest 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, as noted above, 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. Like in other Middle Eastern countries, Iran's insurance sector is dominated by a surprisingly large number of subscale 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 available suggest 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. A new private sector insurer - Arman - opened its doors in March 2012.

Report Table of Contents:

Executive Summary
- Table: Total Premiums, 2010-2017
- Key Insights And Key Risks
SWOT Analysis
- Iran Insurance Industry SWOT
- Iran Political SWOT
- Iran Economic SWOT
- Iran Business Environment SWOT
Life Sector Overview
- Middle East Life Sector Overview
- Table: Middle East And North Africa's Life Premiums, 2010-2017 (US$mn)
- Iran Life Sector Update
Life Insurance Industry Forecast Scenario
- Table: Total Life Premiums, 2010-2017
- Growth Drivers And Risk Management Projections
- Population
- Table: Iran Insurance Key Drivers, Demographics, 2010-2017
Non-Life Sector Overview
- Middle East Non-Life Sector Overview
- Table: Middle East And North Africa's Non-Life Premiums, 2010-2017 (US$mn)
- Iran Non-Life Sector
Non-Life Insurance Industry Forecast Scenario
- Table: Total Non-Life Premiums, 2010-2017
- Growth Drivers And Risk Management Projections
- Macroeconomic Outlook
- Table: Iran - Economic Activity, 2011-2016
- Table: Iran's Macroeconomic Data And Forecasts , 2010-2017
- Political Stability Outlook
- Table: Middle East And Africa Defence And Security Ratings
- Healthcare
- Epidemiology
- Table: Iran Insurance Key Drivers - Disease Adjusted Life Years, 2010-2017
- Motor
- Islamic Finance
- Insurance Risk/Reward Ratings
- Table: Iran's Insurance Risk/Reward Rating
- Table: Middle East and Africa Insurance Risk/Reward Ratings
Competitive Landscape
- Major Players In Iran's Insurance Sector
Company Profiles
- Bimeh Alborz
- Bimeh Asia
- Bimeh Dana
- Bimeh Iran
- Parsian Insurance
Demographic Outlook
- Table: Iran's Population By Age Group, 1990-2020 ('000)
- Table: Iran's Population By Age Group, 1990-2020 (% of total)
- Table: Iran's Key Population Ratios, 1990-2020
- Table: Iran's Rural And Urban Population, 1990-2020
BMI Methodology
- Insurance Risk/Reward Ratings
- Table: Insurance Risk/Reward Indicators And Rationale
- Table: Weighting Of Indicators

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