Having left behind a tough year both due to regulatory amendments and catastrophic flood and hail events, Turkish insurance and pension markets reported a total technical profit of 599 million USD in the non-life segment. Technical profitability of life segment stood at 347 million USD, compared to 61 million USD in the pension segment.

Insurance Association of Turkey (TSB) has announced the 2017 consolidated balance sheet and income statements of Turkish insurance market, which makes significant contributions to the national economy and increases social welfare by providing coverage for many risks of individuals. The market has increased its technical profitability by 24 percent compared to the previous year; while life segment’s technical profit grew by 48 percent.

The market had reported technical loss in three branches during 2016; and in 2017 this number increased up to 5. This resulted in the escalation of total loss by 87 percent compared to 2016, up to 251 million USD. Loss in traffic insurance made a huge impact in the total market loss.

In 2017, the market paid a net amount of 4.7 billion USD for claims
Net amount of claims paid-off in the non-life segment reached 4.1 million USD, compared to 630 million USD in life segment. Therefore, total net amount of claims stood at 4.7 billion USD at the end of 2017; compared to the approximately 4 billion USD last year. Written premiums which make great contribution to the technical profit reached 7.8 billion USD in non-life segment and 1.8 billion USD in life segment.

In 2016, technical profit stood at 518 million USD in non-life segment and 252 million USD in life segment. Moreover, the market paid off 3.4 million USD in non-life segment and 577 million USD in life segment during 2016. At the same time, the market produced 6.7 billion USD in written premiums for the non-life segment and 1.2 billion USD for the life segment.
142 million USD loss in traffic insurance, lower profit in kasko Traffic insurance is of particular concern to the insurance market with new regulatory amendments such as the pool system or price-cap system. This branch reported a technical loss of 142 million USD in 2017, opposed to the technical profit of 5 million USD in 2016.
Technical profit in Kasko (motor own damage) also decreased compared to 2016, from 129 million USD down to 77 million USD in 2017. The biggest reason behind this reduction was the hail events experienced throughout 2017.  

In 2017, the insurance market reached a technical profit of 16 million USD in state-supported agricultural insurance and 42 million USD in engineering insurance; significant growth compared to 10 million USD technical profit in state-supported agricultural insurance and 28 million USD in engineering insurance in 2016.

Total amount of claims payment stood at 1.3 billion for traffic insurance in 2016, with a premium production of 2.8 billion USD; however in 2017, premium production declined to 2.3 billion USD, net amount of claims payment increasing up to 1.4 billion USD.

Auto line pays the highest amount of claims
As to the net amount of claims paid by the insurance market during 2017, traffic insurance and land vehicles liability take the lead with 1.4 billion USD and 1.5 billion USD respectively, followed by land vehicles (kasko) with 1.2 billion USD, health insurance with 813 million USD, life insurance with 630 million USD and fire and natural forces with 262 million USD.
General losses was number one on the ranking of net amount of claims paid by the insurance market with 131 million USD, followed by engineering with 87 million USD, accident with 42 million USD, general liability with 34 million, marine with 24 million USD, state-supported agricultural insurance with 18 million, ships’ hull and machinery with 13 million USD, credit insurance with 8 million USD, financial losses with 3.6 million USD, bond insurance with 1.4 million USD, and aviation with 577 thousand USD. On the lower side of the claims paid legal protection stands at 231 thousand USD, aviation liability at 120 thousand USD, marine liability at 49 thousand USD and rolling stock at 116 thousand USD.

Technical profit peaks in accident and sickness-health branches
In 2017, the highest technical profit was reported in the accident branch with 202 million USD, up by 58 percent compared to the previous year. What followed in the ranking was sickness-health with 116 million USD, up by 243 percent in 2016. Fire and natural forces ranked third with 101 million USD, followed by general losses with 93 million USD.
Other branches with technical profit were ranked respectively as land vehicles (kasko) with 76 million USD, marine with 55 million USD, legal protection with 44 million USD, engineering insurance with 42 million USD, state-supported agricultural insurance with 16 million USD, financial losses with 14 million USD, bond insurance with 2.3 million USD, marine liability with 1 million USD, credit with 912 thousand USD, ships’ hull and machinery with 839 thousand USD, aviation liability with 616 thousand USD, and assistance with 24 thousand.

5 branches report technical loss, while 16 companies report net loss
2017 also witnessed 5 branches with technical loss. Those five branches include traffic with the highest loss of 142 million USD; followed by land vehicles liability with 86 million USD, general liability with 22 million USD, aviation with 1.5 million USD, and rolling stock with 2.6 thousand USD. It is a striking fact that 16 out of 61 companies operating in Turkish insurance market reported net losses in 2017.