Page 16 - Turkinsurance Digital Magazine

14 interview

employers. We believe that this can result in a model that will Could you inform us about the new activities, targets and pro-
neither put an additional burden on public economy nor financially ject of the Insurance Association of Turkey?
challenge the employers. Considering all these facts, we can say
that 53 percent withdrawal rate is not very high for auto-enroll- It is not a misstatement to say that basic function of insurance is
ment, as it is not incompatible with market expectations under to compensate for losses. However, as a concept, insurance neces-
these circumstances. sitates a function to prevent or minimize risks before they occur.
In this respect, our Association aims to focus on preventive insur-
On the other hand, when we examine the progress of BES – or in ance activities by controlling the risk factors before they occur, in
other words third step of the private pension system – since its addition to our traditional activities in increasing the insurance
foundation in 2003, we see that auto-enrollment has largely con- awareness of our society. In accordance with this target, we reg-
tributed to the popularization of the system in very a short period ularly share information messages on our social media accounts
of time. In the 14 years that passed until the initiation of auto-en- towards encouraging people to take necessary precautions; while
rollment, BES brought 7 million participants in the system; while emphasizing the role and functions of insurance in our daily lives
auto-enrollment brought nearly 4.4 million participants in only 1,5 through all our communication channels, social media and digital
years. BES collected 20 billion TL in savings in between 2003 and publications in particular. We aim to use social media more effi-
2013; whereas savings have quadrupled in size as of July 2018, ciently in order to increase insurance awareness in people. More-
reaching 90 billion TL with the contribution of auto-enrollment. over, we are also working on preventive insurance, enhancing in-
surance consciousness, and increasing penetration rates via our
That’s why we expect auto-enrollment to play a crucial role in communication and strategy committees inside the Association,
expanding the reach of pension system. However, as I have men- which also focus on triggering market adaptation and transfor-
tioned earlier, we certainly need a revision in the system to de- mation according to the short and middle term impacts of latest
crease opt - out rates. In this context, besides making proper pro- insurance developments on our market and creating awareness in
motion and communication of the system, we should consider it a this respect. Our target is to make sure that all stakeholders of our
priority policy to reach the desired targets of auto-enrollment and market will be ready for the new term of digitalization and indus-
create savings for retirement by making it obligatory to stay in the try 4.0 which are making an impact on all sectors, for new trends
system for a certain period of time and/or turning it into a model and socio-cultural changes brought by the changing generation.
were employers also make contributions. Within this framework, our projects and goals include activities