Atilla Benli, President of the Insurance Association of Turkey, stated that insurance had a critical role both in terms of economic sustainability and for ensuring that citizens can feel safe. He said that the Association had been working towards ensuring sustainable growth and increasing insurance awareness together with all the stakeholders. 

The Insurance Association of Turkey (TSB) issued a statement evaluating the developments in the insurance and pension market and underlining the importance of the sector. Insurance Week events are organized every year with the aim of increasing awareness about insurance and importance of savings, and attracting attention to various risks.

Saying that the Association attaches great importance to Insurance Week events and regards it as a significant opportunity to explain the importance of insurance with all stakeholders, Atilla Benli’s statement continues as follows:

“We keep doing our job with the awareness of the fact that standing by our policyholders through thick and thin is our biggest responsibility. We can say that 2020, in all aspects, has been a year to remind us that we need insurance to obtain a sustainable living standard against risks, if we want a safe present and future. During this period, we have worked tirelessly to reinforce our economy and act as a guarantee for the future of our citizens. Our market has reached an asset size of 272 billion TL in the first half of 2020, and a premium volume of 53.3 billion TL at the end of August. As of 24 September 2020, total number of participants in BES and OKS has reached 12.5 million, and total fund size has reached 160 billion TL. During the first half of this year, we have undertaken 19.9 billion TL in compensations. With a market size of 129.3 trillion TL, 30 times the size of our GDP at the end of 2019, we have insured many projects. Today, we have a critical function for the sustainability of Turkish economy with the coverage we provide for several mega projects ranging from nuclear power plants to infrastructural investments.”
Emphasizing that insurance means safety for the economy, society and individuals with its existing functions; Atilla Benli says: “Buying insurance and staying insured is important if you want to feel safe. Our sector provides guarantee against risks, and we say ‘We cannot make it without insurance’ during the Insurance Week.”         

Insurance market will pioneer the growth of non-bank financial market

Atilla Benli says their target is to increase the share of insurance market inside Turkish economy and undertake a pioneer role in the growth of non-bank financial market. “We are going through a very significant period for our market. Targets of improving individual pension system and emphasis on the development of non-bank financial sector in the higher policy documents, establishment of SEDDK (Insurance and Individual Pension Regulation and Supervision Agency) and Türk Reasürans, efficient interaction and synergy between public authorities and insurance market harbor many opportunities for our sector. Moreover, target of increasing savings and expanding the use of takaful within the scope of New Economic Program means new opportunities for further growth.  Development of takaful is important in terms of attracting individuals who have never bought insurance before. We aim to seize these opportunities and achieve sustainable growth,” he says.

“Standing by our policyholders is our biggest responsibility”

Stating that 2020 reminded us that insurance is a requirement both due to the pandemic and several natural disasters, Atilla Benli adds as follows: “Unfortunately, during 2020, pandemic has impacted the entire world and natural disasters have impacted our country. On 24 January, an earthquake occurred in Elazığ, Malatya and surrounding regions. In summer months, we faced floods and hails in Ankara, Burdur, Bursa, Giresun and Rize. Our market acted rapidly after those disasters and initiated loss adjustments and payments. On the other hand, we have done our part within the scope of economic measures taken by our government during the pandemic, and we performed well as a sector. We have been an active, dynamic and solution-providing sector both by including the coverage for COVID-19 treatment costs in the scope of individual and complementary health insurance policies - despite the fact that it is normally out of scope, and implementing our recommendations. We have made a contribution of 400 million TL (50.6 million TL in health branch) to our economy during the pandemic, and acted with the awareness that standing by our policyholders is our biggest responsibility.” 

Digital platforms have great influence in expanding the insurance awareness

Benli also reminds that penetration rates are still low in Turkish insurance market, saying that penetration rate stood at 7.2 percent in the world, but 2.2 percent in Turkey. He underlines that explaining the importance of insurance and telling people that it is a requirement should be the first thing to come to mind in that respect. “This is essential not only for our market but also for the welfare of our economy and our citizens. Therefore, raising insurance awareness is one of our priority targets, and we keep working on it non-stop. Insurance Week events are important for our Association in that respect. During this week, we aim to reach out to our citizens from all age groups through communication activities on digital platforms,” he says.

As a part of their Insurance Week events, Insurance Association of Turkey will share the opinions of the CEOs of insurance companies about insurance and pension business, with the aim of spreading out the message that ‘We cannot make it without insurance’ through an active communication.